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| Developing Behavioral Repertoires in Children with Autism which Promote Social Agility and Independence |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 8:00 AM–9:20 AM |
| SHB (Kunst) |
| Area: AUT/DDA; Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| Chair: Angeliki Gena (University of Athens, Greece) |
| Discussant: Angeliki Gena (University of Athens, Greece) |
| Abstract: The purpose of this symposium is to offer some examples of using behavior analytic procedures to teach broad repertoires of skills to children with autism, which may be critical in facilitating their overall functioning in areas such as socialization and independence.
The first presentation provides a comprehensive attempt to teach play behavior across a wide range of developmentally appropriate play activities, which demonstrated that play behavior, even in its most advanced topographies, may be greatly enhanced when treated as operant behavior. The second presentation, also along the lines of cognitive and social development, depicts the example of theory of mind abilities, in order to demonstrate that this critical set of skills, in its less and more advanced forms and in a population that demonstrates severe deficits in this area – children with autism – may also be treated as operant behavior and as such offers itself for teaching through operant procedures, such as modeling and reinforcement.
Finally, the third study addresses one of the most challenging aspects of teaching people with developmental disabilities, which is independent engagement on task and on schedule. It was demonstrated that a package that included rigorous behavior analytic procedures was effective in enhancing such engagement, which generalized across both novel stimulus and response conditions. |
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| Assessing and Teaching Play Repertoires to Children with Autism
in a Developmental Sequence |
| ANGELIKI GENA (University of Athens, Greece), Smaragda Loukrezi (University of Athens, Greece), Elli Papadopoulou (University of Athens, Greece), Eleni Vlahoyianni (University of Athens, Greece) |
| Abstract: One of the under-researched areas in the field of behavior analytic interventions and autism is undoubtly the area of play, despite the critical importance that play has for all aspects of child development, including cognitive, social, and affective repertoires. Even though there are some studies that employ behavior analytic procedures to enhance the play activities of children with autism, we don’t have a systematic analysis of the needs and the developmental sequence in which children with autism may be taught to play appropriately.
The premise of this presentation is to point out a series of four studies, which attempt to provide a thorough assessment of the play behavior of children with autism and also a systematic way of teaching such behavioral repertoires in a developmentally appropriate sequence.
Those studies were recently conducted in Greece. The first study provides a thorough assessment for the functional play of children with autism, because there were inconsistencies in the literature as to whether this type of play was intact in autism. The other three studies provide a model for the sequence and the breadth of play repertoires that may be taught to children with autism in a sequence that is developmentally appropriate and with methodology that draws from behavior analytic technology. Specifically, all participants in all three studies advanced their play skills (functional, symbolic, pretend play, and sociodramatic play) when modeling, prompting, and social reinforcement procedures were introduced.
Key words: autism, play, modeling, reinforcement contingencies |
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| Establishing Behavioral Repertoires of Skills Associated with the Development of Theory of Mind in Children with Autism |
| ERIFYLLI TSIREMPOLOU (University of Athens, Greece), Angeliki Gena (University of Athens, Greece) |
| Abstract: A considerable body of research has demonstrated impairments in social and communicative abilities as well as difficulties in pretend play among children with autism. Impairments in these abilities have been linked to children’s difficulty to mind-read (Baron-Cohen, Leslie & Frith, 1985). Theory of mind researchers claim that the fact that the child with autism cannot fully understand mental representations has an effect upon his ability to recognize and evaluate his and others’ emotional states, and also control and express his/her feelings.
The aim of this pilot study was to assess the development of theory of mind abilities and its effect on the affective displays of children with autism. First-order and second order-false belief tasks have been taught in five school-aged boys with autism. Also, several tests that examine social and emotional behavior in autism have been used for the purposes of the present study. It was found that reinforcement, prompting, and modeling, in a multiple-baseline design across tasks, are effective in improving or developing the ability of children with autism to respond appropriately to various tasks that require theory of mind processing, which, as every other aspect of a child’s repertoire, is amenable to change when proper environmental contingencies are set. Thus, theory of mind abilities may be viewed as operant behavior and as such dependent on environmental contingencies rather than on developmental factors alone.
Key words: autism, theory of mind, modeling, prompting, reinforcement |
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| Teaching Youth with Autism Independent Work Skills Through the Use of Activity Schedules |
| LILLIAN V. PELIOS (American College of Greece, Athens-Greece) |
| Abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a treatment package in producing independent work by three children with autism with minimal supervision by an adult. The package included: (a) delayed reinforcement for on task and on schedule responding, (b) fading of instructional prompts and of the instructor’s presence, (c) unpredictable supervision, (d) contingent response cost, and (e) overcorrection for off task responding. It was found that the treatment package resulted in increased levels of on task and on schedule responding during treatment for all three children with a supervising adult only occasionally present. Two children required minimal adult supervision in maintenance. Generalization probes showed that the behavior of all three children transferred across both novel material and a novel setting in the absence of adult supervision.
Key words: Delayed reinforcement, fading supervision, response cost, overcorrection, autism, independent skills, intervention package, unpredictable supervision. |
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| Autism Paper Session 2 |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 8:00 AM–9:20 AM |
| Madonna |
| Chair: Diane W Hayward (UK Young Autism Project) |
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| The Effect of Verbal Behavior Staff Training on Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders |
| Domain: Service Delivery |
| ANN PATE (Children's Specialized Hospital), Jill F Harris (Children's Specialized Hospital) |
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| Abstract: While recommendations have been made regarding minimum number of hours of programming for young children with autism, there is a lack of clarity regarding the needs of very young (under three years) children with an autism spectrum disorder. Further, early intervention programs serving children from birth-age to three often may have difficulty providing a minimum amount of direct and specialized programming due to staffing and cost issues. One form of accepted specialized early intervention training is verbal behavior, a form of applied behavior analysis. This project details the effects of a verbal behavior training program for staff and parents of children ages birth to three years receiving home-based intervention. Outcome data regarding child functioning as well as increase in number of hours of direct programming will be discussed. |
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| Vocational Skills for an Adult with PDD – Paper Shredding |
| Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| CORRINE R. DONLEY (University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Emeritas) |
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| Abstract: In this study, staff members taught DC, a 46-year-old man who spent 38 years in an institution, how to shred paper quickly. DC, who had been violent in the institution and diagnosed with PDD NOS and OCD, shoved several sheets of paper near the shredder’s opening during baseline. Previously, he had resisted vocational tasks and often signed, “Stop,” or escaped by aggression, property damage and SIB.
During baseline, his RPM was zero and it increased following each short-term objective. For the first short-term objective the staff commanded DC to, “Please shred the paper,” at the beginning of the 15-minute work session, give him verbal prompts to separate a single sheet of paper into the shredder, and drop one penny into a noisy container for each sheet of shredded paper. Staff members physically prompted DC to put one sheet into the shredder when he failed.
For the long-term objective, staff commanded DC to, “Please shred the paper,” at the beginning of the session and deliver five nickels for 15 sheets of shredded paper at a rate of five sheets or more per minute for 21 15–minute consecutive sessions. Data show that prompting, monetary and verbal reinforcement, and positive correction, were effective. |
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| Intensive Behavioural Intervention for Young Children with Autism: A Research-Based Service Model |
| Domain: Service Delivery |
| DIANE W HAYWARD (UK Young Autism Project), Catherine Gale (UK Young Autism Project), Svein Eikeseth (Akershus University College) |
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| Abstract: Outcome research has shown that early and intensive behavioural intervention (ABA) may improve intellectual, language and adaptive functioning in children with autism. However, research has also indicated that not all ABA provisions are equally effective. Therefore, it may be beneficial to describe the key variables that are common to programmes which have been empirically validated through outcome research. This paper describes a research-based service model. Important components include: treatment in the child’s natural environment, intensive intervention, treatment based on applied behaviour analysis, staff training and management, parental involvement, evaluation of progress, and research-based provision. |
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| Teaching Children with Autism to Ask Question About Unknown Auditory Stimuli |
| Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| GLADYS WILLIAMS (CIEL, Spain), Manuela Fernandez Vuelta (CIEL, Spain), Catherine Mallada (CIEL, Spain), Carmen Rodriguez Valgrande (CIEL, Spain), Amy Davies Lackey (Hawthorne Country Day School), Kim Vogt (David Gregory School), Heather Kinney Carew (David Gregory School) |
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| Abstract: The purpose of this intervention was to teach several children with autism to ask questions about unknown auditory stimuli. All of them had some basic verbal behavior (echoic repertoire, mands, tacts, and intraverbals); however, they did not ask questions about unknown stimuli. We used a multiple baseline design across materials (pictures, items in the house, and items in the community). The procedure consisted of asking the children to select items they were familiar with. Sometimes the words were presented in a different language and the children were taught to ask “What is (unknown word)? The results indicated that, in the condition of selecting items, the procedure was effective to teach children to ask a question about the unfamiliar word. |
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| Procedures to establish recombinative repertoire in reading and in instructed behavior. |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 8:00 AM–9:20 AM |
| 301 |
| Area: EAB/EDC; Domain: Experimental Analysis |
| Chair: Martha Hübner (USP Sao Paulo, Brazil) |
| Discussant: William J. McIlvane (University of Massachusetts Medical School) |
| Abstract: Several studies with different procedures to establish recombinative repertoire will be described and analyzed. In spite of the fact that each study had different objectives and different procedures, all of them analyzed the process of the acquisition of recombinative repertorie in reading and instructed behavior, showing the acquisition of the control of verbal units and recombinative generalization. These studies evaluated complex control in reading and in instructed behavior, identifying critical controlling variables such as matrix training, anagram, conditional training with pictures and letter naming, among others. Besides that, the presentations show an overview of several studies in reading that begins with letter naming and ends in recombination and the discussion of controlling variables in the origin of instructed behavior and the role of recombinative repertoire. The results have implications to the development of procedures and teaching programs to establish complex control in the emergence of new behavior. |
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| Instructional Programming and the Stimulus Control of Early Reading Skills |
| KATHRYN SAUNDERS (University of Kansas), Tanya Baynham (University of Kansas), Anna C. Schmidt (University of Kansas), Megan N Stein (University of Kansas) |
| Abstract: Individual-word recognition is one of many component skills that make up reading, but proficiency in this skill could not be more critical. Beyond reading words that have been trained directly, proficient readers can read untaught words that are composed of new combinations of previously learned letters and sounds. This skill is referred to as decoding or word-attack. Just as decoding is a critical component skill within the broader scope of reading, there are prerequisite and component skills of decoding. This talk will discuss these components in terms of the stimulus-control processes that underlie successful teaching procedures. We will cover the development of two broad classes of stimulus control—visual control by print stimuli and auditory control by spoken words and sounds--culminating in the interrelationship between visual and auditory skills that occurs when children learn the concept that sound-letter relations generalize across words (the alphabetic principle). Topics include letter discrimination and naming, the abstraction of the component sounds of syllables (phonemic awareness,) the discrimination of printed words, and the recombination of the component sounds of syllables. |
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| EFFECTS OF CONDITIONAL TRAININGS WITH DICTATED AND PRINTED WORDS (WITH NO PICTURES) UPON THE MINIMAL VERBAL UNITS CONTROL IN READING. |
| MARTHA HÜBNER (USP Sao Paulo, Brazil), Mariana Kerches Leite (University of São Paulo) |
| Abstract: Although the process of control by minimal units in reading acquisition in previous studies has been widely investigated through equivalence paradigm, the relations between both are not clear yet. The present study had the objective to verify the effects of training conditional relations between dictated words and printed words (AC training) upon the acquisition of recombinative reading, without training relations between pictures and dictated words (AB training). During previous studies, AB training was always present and recombinative reading emerged after three AC and AB training with sets of four words each. In the present study, AB training did not occur before the recombinative reading tests. Five pre- school students were participants. The program consisted of 20 experimental phases, presented by a special software, divided in four basic types: pre-test, pre-training, training and tests. Relations between oral and printed word were taught; afterwards, recombinative reading tests occurred with words that were composed by units of the words taught previously. The results showed that three participants showed recombinative reading in closer to 100% correct performances. The results points that the absence of training and tests of AB relations doesn´t inhibit the emergence of control by minimal units, suggesting economy in the procedure. |
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| Recombinative instructional control derived from equivalence class formation and sentence training |
| DEISY DAS GRAÇAS DE SOUSA (Universidade Federal de São Carlos), Lidia Maria Marson Postalli (Universidade Federal de São Carlos) |
| Abstract: Studies on rule-following behavior have emphasized the conditions under which this behavior is maintained or abandoned. The present study asked about the origins of the meaning of words in an instruction. Additionally, we asked whether sentence training designed after a matrix training would result in recombinative repertoires: 1) matching new sentences and 2) following new instructions containing recombined elements of learned sentences. Words in instructions can become members of equivalence classes with other stimuli (their referents) such as objects, actions, relations. This study investigated whether pseudo-sentences (stimulus Set A) would function as instructions after their participation in stimulus classes with videotaped actions directed to objects created specially for the study (stimulus Set B), and abstract pictures (stimulus Set C). Matching-to-sample procedures were used to establish conditional discriminations among stimuli of Sets A and B (AB relations) and Sets A and C (AC relations) and test for class formation (BC and CB). All children learned the baseline of conditional discriminations AB and AC and demonstrated the formation of equivalence classes relating, without direct training, pseudo-phrases, videotaped actions and abstract pictures. Tests for instructional control, conducted as pre- and post-tests, demonstrated that after class formation children followed both kinds of “instructions” (auditory and pictorial) acting upon the concrete objects. The results support the notion of equivalence class formation as a mechanism by which instruction following could emerge, without explicit training. Then, new matching relations were trained, recombining some of the elements of the original sentences; a subset of recombined sentences was saved for probes of 1) matching new videotaped actions (recombining action and object) to new dictated sentences; and 2) instructional control by the new, recombined sentences. Recombinative generalization occurred for the two repertories and support the role of matrix training as an effective tool for generating new, complex behavior. |
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| Experimental Analysis of Behavior Paper Session 2 |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 8:00 AM–9:20 AM |
| Base 1 |
| Chair: Ricardo Pellón (UNED) |
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| Schedule-Induced Polydipsia in the Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat and its Relation to Behavioural Impulsivity |
| Domain: Experimental Analysis |
| RICARDO PELLÓN (UNED), Javier Ibias (UNED) |
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| Abstract: Eight male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), eight Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats and eight Wistar rats, were maintained at 80-85% of their free-feeding weights by food deprivation and were exposed to series of fixed-time (FT) schedules in which a pellet of food was delivered at regular times independently of the animals’ behaviour. FT values were 9, 15, 30, 60, 120 and 180 sec, being the order of presentation counterbalanced across animals (except for FT 120- and 180-s which were presented the last in the series). Schedule-induced polydipsia developed at all FT values showing the characteristic bitonic function relating the amount of licking and drinking with the inter-food interval length. Wistar and WKY rats showed the maximum polydipsia at FT 15-s, but to a much lesser degree in WKY than Wistar rats at any FT value. Maximum schedule-induced polydipsia in SHR was obtained at FT 30-s, thus showing a rightward shift in the bitonic function in comparison to control animals. The temporal distribution of licking within inter-food intervals was shifted slightly to the right in SHR at long FT values. In a separate study with only the SHR and Wistar rats, animals were exposed to a delay discounting procedure by which they made repeated choices between a single food pellet delivered immediately and four food pellets delivered after a delay (3, 6, 12 or 24 s). SHRs chose more small/immediate reinforcers than Wistar rats at the longest delays. Data will be discus in relation to the increased level of impulsivity in SHR and how this characteristic might contribute to the development of schedule-induced polydipsia. |
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| Stimulus control in long stimulus-response chains in rats |
| Domain: Experimental Analysis |
| IVER H. IVERSEN (University of North Florida) |
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| Abstract: Backward chaining is often described in textbooks. However, basic research on stimulus control in behavior chains is infrequent. Two experiments examined stimulus-response chains maintained by food reinforcement in rats. Three rats performed a chain with four components: Dd-Cc-Bb-Aa-Reinf; upper case letters for stimuli, lower case letters for responses. Training began with establishing Aa, then Bb etc. To examine stimulus control, probe trials omitted one stimulus but retained the response contingency. Latencies increased in probe trials but were shorter as the stimulus approached reinforcement. To examine the role of stimulus location, probe trials moved the links of the chain around. Thus, a probe trial could be Dd-Aa-Bb-Cc-Reinf. Latencies depended on the trained location of the stimulus. The second experiment examined acquisition of a six-link chain where the same stimuli were repeated controlling different responses: Cb-Bc-Ad-Cc-Bb-Aa-Reinf. After acquisition of Cc-Bb-Aa-Reinf, the addition of Ad resulted in errors of response a, the addition of Bc resulted in errors of response b, and the addition of Cb resulted in errors of response c. After weeks of training these errors vanished, latencies were in the order of 1-3 s, and a given stimulus reliably controlled different responses depending on its location within the chain. |
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| Evaluating the Interaction Between Instructions and Superstitious Behaviors in Complex Schedules of Reinforcement |
| Domain: Experimental Analysis |
| MARCELO FROTA BENVENUTI (UnB, PUC-SP) |
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| Abstract: The purpose of the current work was to evaluate complex contingencies in the experimental study of the interaction between instructions / self-instructions and the behavior produced by accidental reinforcement. Superstitious behavior is evaluated in the extinction component of a concurrent VI EXT schedule or in the VT (non-contingent) component of a multiple VT EXT schedule. The participants were college students. In concurrent schedules, incorrect instructions consisted in telling the participants to respond to both components of the schedule. In a multiple schedule, incorrect instructions consisted in telling the participants to respond to one of the components of the schedule. After each session, the participants were asked about what they should do to gain points. Superstitious behavior is more frequent in concurrent schedules. Verbal statements were also more frequent and complex in concurrent schedules. The data supports the notion of operant selection based solely on the contiguity between responses and environmental changes. The results also support the use of complex schedules to study superstitious behavior in the laboratory. Additionally, it is possible to discuss the causal status of verbal behavior (such as instructions given by the experimenter or self-instructions) in determining superstitious behavior. |
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| Choice as Cumulative Discrimination: A Model for Response Allocation in Transition and Steady-State |
| Domain: Experimental Analysis |
| RANDOLPH C. GRACE (University of Canterbury), Darren R. Christensen (University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences), Elizabeth Grace Evelyn Kyonka (University of Canterbury) |
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| Abstract: Behavioral models for choice have traditionally been based on the matching law and applied to results from steady-state experiments, with distinctions made in terms of how the value of the stimuli signalling the choice outcomes was defined (e.g., Fantino, 1969; Grace, 1994; Mazur, 2001). Here we describe an alternative approach in which a model is first developed for choice under dynamic conditions, and then predictions for steady-state behavior are derived. The basic assumption of the model is that after experiencing an outcome (e.g., a delay to reinforcement), subjects make a categorical discrimination about whether that outcome was relatively favorable or unfavorable; the probability of responding to stimuli associated with that outcome then increases or decreases, respectively. We show that this model can account for acquisition data in concurrent chains, and derive an expression for steady-state response allocation. The model accounts for representative data as well as existing models (Grace, 1994; Mazur, 2001), and with better parameter invariance. We discuss implications of the model for conditioned reinforcement, temporal discounting, and the provenance of matching. |
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| Norwegian Track: Treatment of School Refusal Based on Functional Assessments |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 8:00 AM–9:20 AM |
| SHB (Film) |
| Area: EDC/DEV; Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| Chair: Børge Holden (Habilitation Services Hedmark, Norway) |
| Discussant: Børge Holden (Habilitation Services Hedmark, Norway) |
| Abstract: The prevalence of school refusal seems to increase, and constitutes a significant problem for the persons and families involved, and for society at large. Several approaches to intervention have existed, a majority of them being based on traditional psychology. In brief, anxiety models seem to have dominated. School refusal has attracted relatively modest attention from behavioral researchers, Kearney being one notable exception. Within the behavioral tradition, school refusal is analysed and treated like other problem behaviors, in principle. This means that school refusal is functionally analysed, and interventions are primarily based on the results of such analyses. In a majority of cases, positive and negative reinforcement contingencies are identified, and subsequent interventions are often successful. If functional analyses and interventions fail, an alternative is default interventions. Although the knowledge base is limited, the behavioral approach seems promising. |
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| Treatment of Negatively Reinforced School Refusal in a 12 Years Old Boy |
| JAN-IVAR SÅLLMAN (Habilitation services), Børge Holden (Habilitation Services Hedmark, Norway) |
| Abstract: A 12 years old boy with intellectual abilities above average had not attended school for nearly two years. He also fulfilled the criteria for social phobia. Attempts at having him leave home, especially for school, elicited crying and typical anxiety responses. A stepwise procedure was implemented. The first step was leaving home for shopping and leisure activities, the second was to visit school before the summer holiday was over, both with an escape extinction component. When school started, he was followed to school by expert staff for the first few days, with escape extinction as the main component. Expert staff was faded, and after two weeks parents conducted all interventions themselves. |
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| Treatment of Positively Reinforced School Refusal in a 19 Years Old Girl With Mild Intellectual Disability |
| JØRN KROKEN (Habilitation services), Børge Holden (Habilitation Services Hedmark, Norway) |
| Abstract: A girl in her late teens with mild mental retardation refused to go to school. She also forced at least one of her parents to stay home with her, and became aggressive when parents demanded her to go to school. A side effect was that parents had problems with keeping their jobs. The whole situation had lasted for years. Nothing indicated that school had aversive properties, while staying home produced numerous reinforcers. First and foremost, interventions consisted of extinction of attempts at escaping demands to leave for school. Initially, interventions were conducted by expert staff alone. Parents were faded in carefully, and finally conducted all interventions themselves. |
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| Treatment of Positively and Negatively Reinforced School Refusal in a 15 Years Old Boy |
| JAN-IVAR SÅLLMAN (Habilitation services), Børge Holden (Habilitation Services Hedmark, Norway) |
| Abstract: A 15 year old boy had had substantial absence for years. Both positive and negative reinforcement contingencies were identified. In the first phase, a procedure based on escape extinction produced modest results, that is, he went to school, but left after an hour or two. Moreover, the procedure was hard for his mother to conduct. In the next phase, a component was added: If he stayed home, reinforcers like internet access, were removed at home for the entire day. This combination proved successful, and school refusal dropped to near zero. When the second component was added, the intervention was also easy for his mother to conduct. |
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| Experimental Analysis of Emergent Behaviors In Applied Settings |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 8:00 AM–9:20 AM |
| Vampyr |
| Area: VBC; Domain: Experimental Analysis |
| Chair: R. Douglas Greer (Columbia University Teacher's College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences) |
| Abstract: This symposium will present four papers, each devoted to the establishment of new repertories, new verbal capabilities or emergent behaviors. The first paper will present the effects of multiple exemplar instruction on the acquisition of autoclitic frames with both typically developing and developmentally delayed preschool students. The second paper will present a comparison of two differing protocols used to induce the Naming capability with middle school students. The third paper will present the effects of using best practice teaching strategies on reading development with middle school students. The fourth paper will outline the most recent research related to protocols for advancing preschool children’s verbal behavior development. Additionally, successful procedures for establishing an observational learning repertoire and research on the acquisition of conditioned reinforcement through observation will be discussed. |
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| The Effects of Multiple Exemplar Instruction on the Acquisition and Subsequent Abstraction of Autoclitic Frames |
| NICOLE LUKE (Columbia University Teachers College), R. Douglas Greer (Columbia University Teacher's College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences) |
| Abstract: This study tested the effects of the use of multiple exemplar instruction on 8-typically developing preschoolers and 4 preschoolers with developmental delays and their ability to use autoclitic frames for spatial relations (above, below, left, right, between) using novel tacts and novel stimuli. Pre-intervention unconsequated probes (40-trial probes) showed participants were missing novel usage of autoclitic frames of specificity. They demonstrated age appropriate verbal developmental cusps and capabilities but were missing novel usage of autoclitic frames of specificity. Subsequently, the participants received multiple exemplar training sets with unknown tacts until mastery. Post interventions probes tested for the participants' use of autoclitic frames and found that teaching training sets of tacts using the frames of specificity with multiple exemplar instruction occasioned the use of frames in novel functions and with novel stimuli. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of the multiple exemplar instructional protocol suggesting that such experiences result in the emergence of autoclitic frames. The evidence advances our understanding of the verbal developmental theory further extending contemporary treatments of Skinner's verbal theory as it pertains to the development of verbal behavior in typically developing children. |
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| An Analysis of the Comparison between Intensive Tact Instruction and Multiple Exemplar Instruction on the Emergence of Naming with Middle School Students |
| R. DOUGLAS GREER (Columbia University Teacher's College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences), Yasmin J. Helou-Care (Columbia University Teachers College), Joan Broto (Columbia University Teachers College) |
| Abstract: We tested the effects of the use of Multiple Exemplar Instruction (MEI) and the Intensive Tact Procedure (ITP) on the emergence of Naming across untaught listener and speaker responses with 6-middle school students diagnosed with emotional disabilities. Pre-treatment unconsequated probes showed participants were lacking the Naming capability. Participants were then randomly assigned into either of the two treatment groups, MEI and ITP, in order to compare the effects of each intervention on the emergence of a Naming capability. Subsequently, the participants received equal amounts of multiple exemplar training or intensive tact training until one of participants in the matched pair met the pre-established criterion for the stimuli set. Post-interventions probes tested for the participants' emergence of the Naming capability across both the pre-intervention stimuli set and a novel stimuli set. The results demonstrated that the participants in the MEI group acquired Naming at a faster rate than the participants in the ITP group. These findings suggest that multiple exemplar instruction may be a more efficient method of inducing the Naming capability with middle school students. |
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| The Effects of Choral Responding and Best Teaching Practices on Reading Fluency and Phonemic Abstraction |
| NIRVANA PISTOLJEVIC (The Fred S Keller School and Teachers College, Col), R. Douglas Greer (Columbia University Teacher's College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences) |
| Abstract: We will present the most recent research related to best practice teaching strategies and their effects on various components of reading development with middle school students. The paper will include results from the implementation of choral responding to increase fluency with textual responding to novel stimuli and the effects of multiple exemplar instruction on phonemic abstraction. In addition, the effects of reading fluency will be presented in relation to reading comprehension and the Naming capability. |
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| From Learning to Observe to Learning through Observation |
| NIRVANA PISTOLJEVIC (Columbia University Teachers College), R. Douglas Greer (Columbia University Teacher's College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences), Nirvana Pistoljevic (Teachers College, Columbia University), Jessica Singer-Dudek (Teachers College, CU and CABAS), JoAnn Pereira Delgado (The Fred S. Keller School), Claire S. Cahill (Teachers College, Columbia University CABAS), Mara Katra Oblak (Teachers College, Columbia University) |
| Abstract: We will present the most recent research related to protocols for advancing children’s verbal behavior development. The findings presented here demonstrate effective tactics that have been implemented with students ranging from pre-listener through early reader/writer levels of verbal behavior. The paper includes results from the implementation of protocols to induce and increase early observing responses, such as eye contact with people, attending to 2- and 3-dimensional stimuli, and generalized imitation; fluent listener and speaker repertoires; and observational learning, including new research on the observational learning of conditioned reinforcement. |
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| Identifying and Removing Barriers That Impede Language Acquisition for Children With Autism |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 8:30 AM–9:20 AM |
| SHB (Olympia) |
| Chair: Sigmund Eldevik (Akershus University College) |
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| Identifying and Removing Barriers That Impede Language Acquisition for Children With Autism |
| MARK L. SUNDBERG (Sundberg and Associates) |
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| Abstract: Some children with autism or other developmental disabilities fail to make significant gains in their language intervention programs because of specific learning and language barriers. If these barriers can be identified, they often can be reduced and even eliminated. These barriers include problems such as prompt dependency, failing to scan arrays, scrolling, defective mands, defective tacts, and defective intraverbals. The Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program: The VB-MAPP contains a “Barriers Assessment” that targets 24 different learning and language barriers. This presentation will describe how to use the assessment to identify the barriers that may affect a child, and describe a variety of intervention programs designed to reduce or remove specific barriers.
Mark L. Sundberg, Ph.D., BCBA received his doctorate degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from Western Michigan University (1980), under the direction of Dr. Jack Michael. Dr. Sundberg is the author of The Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program: The VB-MAPP, and co-author of the books The Assessment of Basic Learning and Language Skills: The ABLLS; Teaching Language to Children with Autism or Other Developmental Disabilities; and A Collection of Reprints on Verbal Behavior. He has published over 45 professional papers, including the chapter “Verbal Behavior” in Applied Behavior Analysis by Cooper, Heron, & Heward (2007). He is the founder and past editor of the journal The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, a twice past-president of The Northern California Association for Behavior Analysis, a past-chair of the Publication Board of ABAI, and was a member of the BACB committee that developed the BCBA and BCABA Task Lists. Dr. Sundberg has given over 500 national and international conference presentations and workshops, and taught 80 college courses on behavior analysis, verbal behavior, sign language, and child development. Dr. Sundberg’s awards include the 2001 “Distinguished Psychology Department Alumnus Award” from Western Michigan University. |
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| Norwegian Track Paper Session 2 |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 10:00 AM–10:20 AM |
| SHB (Film) |
| Chair: Jon A. Lokke (University College of Ostfold, Norway) |
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| Functional Analysis of Problem Behavior of Elderly Adults in Long-term Residential Care in Norway |
| Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| JON A. LOKKE (University College of Ostfold, Norway), Jorn Arve Vold (Raade kommune) |
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| Abstract: Elderly individuals in long-term residential care often exhibit problem behaviors such as physical aggression, wandering, and repetitive vocalizations. In spite of common occurrence of problem behaviours in residential care units, only a limited number of studies have examined the functional determinants of problem behaviours, and reported treatment interventions based on known functions. To our knowledge, no studies on the topic have been published in Norwegian journals or books. In this study, bachelor students and nursing staff have been trained in different functional assessment methods. Students and staff then collected data regarding problem behaviors and functions. We present the training manual and report effect data from the courses in functional analysis methodology and data that demonstrate functional relations between behaviour and observable variables relevant for people with dementia or other age related problems. We present some proposals and obstacles for further dissemination of functional analysis methodology in long-term nursing homes in Norway. |
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| Autism Paper Session 5 |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 10:00 AM–10:50 AM |
| SHB (Kunst) |
| Chair: Dennis W. Moore (Monash University) |
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| Reducing Severe Obsessive Compulsive Behaviors in an Individual with Autism:
A case study |
| Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| GLADYS WILLIAMS (CIEL, Spain), Erik Arntzen (Akershus University College), Andres Dario Sarria Ayala (Applied Behavioral Consultant Services), Anna Beatriz Muller Queiroz (Applied Behavioral Consultant Services), Daniel de Matos (Appllied Behavioral Consultant Services) |
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| Abstract: The purpose of this intervention was to determine if a procedure used to reduce obsessive compulsive behaviors (resistance therapy) was helpful in decreasing obsessive-compulsive behaviors that interfered in the daily functioning of a 20 year old adolescent with autism. The obsessive behaviors were grouped by senses (tactile, olfactory, visual, auditory and gustatory). The baseline was taken on all the obsessive behaviors the child displayed throughout the day, redirecting him when the behaviors appeared. This often resulted in aggressive behavior toward the therapists. The intervention was applied using a multiple baseline design across three behaviors, selecting first the behaviors that were most problematic. The results will follow. |
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| Functional Assessment at a Distance; An application of Information Technology in assessment and intervention |
| Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| Jade Thomas (Krongold Centre, Monash University), DENNIS W. MOORE (Monash University), Angelika Anderson (Krongold Centre, Monash University) |
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| Abstract: Evidence abounds of the value of functional assessment in the design of interventions to reduce problem behaviours in children with autism. However the tyranny of distance has often constrained our capacity to obtain reliable and valid functional assessments. Emerging technology may provide a partial solution to this problem. BI Capture, a computer-based video recording program, enables the recording of incidents of problem behaviour and the antecedents to and consequences of that behaviour. Video records can then be uploaded onto a secure website and made available for viewing to specified recipients, obviating travel and associated costs in the functional analysis process. The present study is the first in Australia to use this technology to conduct a functional assessment of problem behaviour in a child with autism living remote from an assessment and intervention service. Results of the intervention package arising from this functional assessment are presented. Though clearly a limited trial, the results add to a small but growing body of research supporting the use of this technology as a practical and ecologically valid way of conducting a functional assessment at a distance. |
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| Effects of Adapted Exercise Training on Stereptypical Behaviors in Autism |
| Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| ILKER YILMAZ (Anadolu University), NEVIN ERGUN (Hacettepe University), MEHMET YANARDAG (Turkish Physiotherapy Association), Ayten Uysal (Anadolu University) |
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| Abstract: Children with ASD may be at risk for inactivity due to social and behavioral deficits often associated with the condition, such as playing imaginative and social games, opportunities to engage in physical activity are likely limited (Reid, 2005). Swimming pool activities have been found to be successful in this regard. Adapted swimming exercise training decreased stereotypical behaviors and increased appropriate behaviors (Yilmaz, 2004). But, there is no study about the effects of adapted land exercise training on stereotypical behaviors of children with autism by using one of the errorless teaching strategies. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of adapted land exercise training on stereotypical behaviors of child with autism by using the most to least prompting procedure. Subject was a seven years old male child with autism. Each adapted land exercises session consist of jogging exercises (20 minute) on treadmill, trampoline exercises (100 hops), throwing the ball to the target with a dominant hand (15 throwing) and to mount hobby horse (3 minutes). These exercise skills were applied by using the “most to least prompt” procedure during 12 weeks, three times a week and 40 minutes a day and all the training sessions and stereotypical behaviors recorded via a camera. Also, before each session, the subject had been given leisure time for 15 minutes, his activities on the exercise room during leisure time were recorded by camera. Furthermore, the subject’s stereotypical behaviors were assessed three successive sessions of before and after 12 weeks of training by camera. The total number of the stereotypical behaviors on each session was recorded before 15 minutes and during sessions. The results of this study were analyzed via graphic illustrations. The mean number of the stereotypical behaviours during leisure time of the training and follow-up periods (after 2 and 4 week of training period) was 7.07, the mean number of the stereotypical behaviours during sessions was 2.16. The mean numbers of the stereotypical behaviours before and after 12 weeks were 12.6 and 2.6, respectively. In conclusion; this study showed that adapted land exercise training and special education interventions reduced stereotypical behaviors after exercise and follow-up periods. |
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| Taking stock: An interim assessment of Sidman’s theory of stimulus equivalence |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 10:00 AM–10:50 AM |
| SHB (Olympia) |
| Chair: Erik Arntzen (Akershus University College) |
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| Taking stock: An interim assessment of Sidman’s theory of stimulus equivalence |
| MANISH VAIDYA (University of North Texas) |
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| Abstract: Theoretical developments in the inductive sciences come about when a sufficient amount of data has been collected to warrant a conceptual organization of known empirical facts. At its most fruitful, this organization of empirical knowledge is based on the detection of broad, orderly patterns in the data and can lead to novel predictions and suggest new and interesting programs of research. When cast precisely, theories can also delimit their domain and, thus, serve to create their conditions for their modification and development. Sidman’s (1994 and 2000) papers serve as excellent examples of this kind of theory making. In this address, I will attempt to describe the basics of Sidman’s theory, outline some of its key predictions and evaluate those predictions against empirical outcomes generated in our laboratory as well those reported in the archival literature. I will also describe some empirical outcomes not currently addressed by Sidman’s account of equivalence. I will conclude with a brief discussion of how this interim assessment of Sidman’s theory can inform and guide future directions in the research on stimulus equivalence. Manish Vaidya earned his bachelor and master’s degrees at the University of North Texas and his Ph.D. at the University of Florida. Following a brief post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Kansas, he returned to the University of North Texas where he is now an associate professor in the Department of Behavior Analysis. Manish has been interested in issues related to stimulus control since nearly the beginning of his graduate training. His current research interests involve attending and short-term remembering in pigeons and the development and maintenance of equivalence relations in humans. He has served on the Board of Editors of the Journal of Experimental Analysis of Behavior, a guest reviewer for a host of other journals and is a regular presenter at the annual ABAI conferences. |
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| Theoretical, Philosophical, and Conceptual Issues Paper Session 4 |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 10:00 AM–10:50 AM |
| 301 |
| Chair: Sabrina Brando (Animal Concepts) |
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| The Definition of "Aggressive Behavior" |
| Domain: Theory |
| KARL KRISTIAN INDREEIDE (AdCentrum DA) |
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| Abstract: Laypersons use the term “aggressive” in a way that is vague and much too broad, according to most texts dealing with aggressive and/ or violent behaviors. For instance, “aggressive” is used to describe properties of music or driving that obviously has little to do with “aggression” or “aggressive behavior” as these terms are defined in scientific or educational texts.
The paper, how ever, presents an argument for the laypersons usage. By investigating the properties that make people label something “aggressive”, we discover topographical similarities that lead the way to a definition of “aggressive” that is more useful and open to scientific discovery than the established definitions.
“Aggressive behavior” and “violent behavior” should both be functionally defined. While the function of violent behavior can be described as “producing harm/ injury”, the central function of aggressive behavior could be said to be to produce the effects in the recipient normally labeled as “being frightened”. These effects are being produced by behaviors that, in broad terms, show “potential of violence” (size, strength, speed etc) or “direction of violence” (approachment, staring etc), or the combination of these.
The paper is an exploration of the distinctions between aggressive and violent behaviors, the analytical advantages of making these distinctions and thereby the need for a new definition of aggressive behavior |
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| EXPLORING CHOICE AND CONTROL OPPORTUNITIES APPLIED IN ENRICHMENT AND TRAINING OF ZOO ANIMALS |
| Domain: Theory |
| SABRINA BRANDO (AnimalConcepts) |
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| Abstract: Providing choices and control to zoo animals in their habitat is one of the many tasks professional animal caretakers implement. Preference testing and application of the theory of demand are some of the methods that have been used to gain insight into animal preferences. When we research, design, and implement enrichment and behavioral programs we seek to use new technologies, theories, and practical ideas. Zoo animals readily learn to respond to a large variety of signals, learn to associate and discriminate different circumstances with specific stimuli, as has been shown in enrichment and training projects. The presentation will explore some new possibilities of providing discriminative control by signals over choice behavior of zoo animals. The opportunity for the animals to start a session and to choose where and when to do which behavior can be placed under stimulus control. Combining an animal care program that incorporates choices and control in behavioral enrichment together with creativity in habitat development and use of scientific methods can lead to new avenues in zoo animal care. The presentation will illustrate these topics with various video clips of stimulus control training in zoo animals. |
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| Community Interventions, Social and Ethical Issues Paper Session 2 |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 10:00 AM–11:20 AM |
| Salome |
| Area: CSE |
| Chair: Claire E. McDowell (saplings) |
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| Behavioral Contingency Analysis of Property Rights, Loans, Securities, Derivatives, and Pyramid Schemes |
| Domain: Theory |
| FRANCIS MECHNER (The Mechner Foundation) |
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| Abstract: A formal language for codifying behavioral contingencies reveals that many financial institutions and practices involve the transfer or property. But behavioral analysis reveals that when property rights are transferred they are inevitably altered in the process, often in unperceived and unpredictable ways. This fact is one of the core reasons why all of these institutions and practices entail instability and a risk of collapse.
In many loan transactions, the lender transfers money to the borrower and the borrower transfers contingent property rights (collateral or security) to the lender. But these property rights are altered in unperceived and unpredicted ways every time they change hands, because the consequences of exercising those rights are modulated by the prevailing social and physical environment, and by the histories of the parties and the contingencies to which they are subject, at the time of the transfer. If the new owner transfers acquired property rights again, such unperceived and unpredicted alteration is compounded further, and further again at every additional stage of transfer.
The stability of systems that involve multiple stages of transfer of property rights depends on the maintenance of a social consensus regarding the value after every transfer. A loss of consensus collapses the system and “bursts the bubble.” |
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| Using Precision Teaching Strategies to Promote Self-Management of Inner Behaviours and Related Symptoms of Depression |
| Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| CLAIRE E MCDOWELL (University of Ulster, Coleraine), Kerry Patterson (University of Ulster, Coleraine) |
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| Abstract: This study examined the use of precision teaching strategies to promote self-management of inner behaviours and measured the effect of these strategies on the symptoms of depression. Nine people in total participated in the study, three had minimal symptoms of depression, three had mild symptoms of depression and three had moderate symptoms of depression. Participants in the treatment group completed a BDI-II questionnaire, counted positive and negative thoughts throughout the day, participated in individualised interventions, before completing the BDI-II again and completing a social validity questionnaire. Participants in the control group 1 completed a BDI-II questionnaire, counted positive and negative thoughts throughout the day, completed the BDI-II again and completed a social validity questionnaire. Participants in the control group 2 completed a BDI-II questionnaire at the beginning and end of study and carried out a social validity questionnaire. The findings of this study demonstrate that the see/read positive statements to fluency intervention was successful for all participants within the treatment group in increasing the frequency of positive thoughts whilst reducing the frequency of negative thoughts across the day. All participants within the treatment group had a reduction in their scores on the BDI-II from the beginning to the end of this study. Therefore an increase in the frequency of positive inner behaviours and a decrease in negative inner behaviours did correlate with a reduction in symptoms of depression for all participants within the treatment group. |
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| Public health and applied behavior analysis: Worlds apart and yet so close |
| Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| JUDITH R. MATHEWS (University of Nebraska Medical Center) |
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| Abstract: For the most part, the field of public health remains unaware of the potential of applied behavior analysis to tackle relevant issues, in terms of both research designs and arrangement of contextual variables. Likewise, only a small minority of applied behavior analysts have ventured outside the narrow confines of our behavior analysis community to address public health issues. This paper will review collaborative efforts between the two fields and will review in depth the application of behavior analytic principles in the public health area of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR). CPBR is defined as “a partnership approach to research that equitably involves community members, organizational representatives and researchers in all aspects of the research process and in which all partners contribute expertise and share decision making and ownership” (Israel, Eng, Schulz & Parker, 2005). Preliminary data on a health disparities CBPR project run by at-risk inner-city girls in Omaha Nebraska will be presented. Plans for expanding this project using an interrupted time-series design will also be presented. Finally, this paper will discuss future directions for collaboration between public health and applied behavior analysis. |
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| The Picture Exchange Communication System: Research and Application |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 10:00 AM–11:20 AM |
| Madonna |
| Area: AUT/DDA; Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| Chair: Andrew S. Bondy (Pyramid Educational Consultants) |
| Abstract: The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is an evidence-based protocol that effectively teaches early functional communication skills. The teaching sequence is based upon Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior and systematically alters function and complexity. We will review the basic protocol and review research regarding the effectiveness of the system with different user populations. We will describe several common misconceptions about PECS and review how implementation of the system can impact on other areas, including speech and behavior management. Finally, we will describe how a European-based short-term intensive program impacts on the acquisition of PECS skills. |
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| PECS: Its theory and protocol |
| SUE BAKER (Pyramid Educational Consultants, UK), Julie Biere (Pyramid Educational Consultants, UK) |
| Abstract: The PECS protocol is based upon Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior. The protocol starts with simple requests (mands) and builds in other verbal functions. We will describe the basic elements within the protocol and note which teaching strategies are used within each Phase. |
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| PECS: Review of research |
| ANDREW S. BONDY (Pyramid Educational Consultants) |
| Abstract: There are now over 45 publications looking at PECS from over 12 countries. We will review several key studies involving single-subject and group design, and describe outcome information with a variety of populations and age-ranges. We also will review studies related to behaviors that co-vary with PECS use, including speech. We will point out areas that need further study. |
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| PECS: Myths and misconceptions |
| LORI A. FROST (Pyramid Educational Consultants) |
| Abstract: In part due to the popularity of PECS, there are many misunderstandings associated with the use the system. Some of these issues relate to for whom the protocol is appropriate to issues related to if the protocol confirms to various theoretical models. We will also review issues related to transitioning PECS users to other modalities, including speech. Finally, we will discuss strategies to best overcome resistence to implementing PECS based on theory and evidence. |
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| PECS: Implementing an intense training package |
| ANNA PLESSA (Pyramid Educational Consultants, Greece), Julie Tuil (Pyramid Educational Consultants, France) |
| Abstract: For users to be most effective with any functional communication system, including PECS, they need to use the system in a variety of settings. This talk will describe how intense, short-term training focusing on PECS use by highly trained staff, has lead to significant rapid improvement for users in the UK, Greece and France. Descriptions of the program and outcome will be discussed. |
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| Experimental Analysis of Behavior Paper Session 5 |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 10:00 AM–11:20 AM |
| Base 1 |
| Chair: Joana Arantes (University of Minho and University of Canterbury) |
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| A third kind of selection; Experimental microcultures as an approach to increase the range and application of behavior analysis. |
| Domain: Experimental Analysis |
| ARNE TERJE GULBRANDSEN (Akershus University College) |
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| Abstract: Selection by consequences may be a common mechanism explaining processes of change in species (fylogeny), in the behavior of individuals (ontogeny) and in populations (culture) (Skinner, 1953). An experimental approach to study traditions in microcultures was suggested by Jacobs and Campbell (1961), and extended by Baum, Efferson, Richerson and Paciotti (2004). The present line of research was an addition to these studies. A computer program was developed to study traditions of choosing in a lineage of groups of four adults where one of the participants was substituted repeatedly. Choice by consensus produced points exchangeable for money and a timeout depending on the choice made. The results indicate that a tendency to maximize the number of points and a tendency to avoid timeout was established and transferred to new participants. The tradition of choosing was usually passed on by providing relatively accurate descriptions of the experiment, and rarely by coercion or mythological descriptions. These kinds of research may increase the potential for efficient analyses of societal challenges and extend the field of impact for behavior analysis. |
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| The “Work Ethic” Effect and Errorless Learning |
| Domain: Experimental Analysis |
| JOANA ARANTES (University of Minho and University of Canterbury) |
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| Abstract: Previous research (Arantes & Grace, 2008; Vasconcelos, Urcuioli & Lionello-DeNolf, 2007; Vasconcelos & Urcuoli, 2008) has tested the generality of the “work ethic” effect reported by Clement, Feltus, Kaiser, and Zentall (2000). The present study continues this research. Six pigeons were exposed to two simultaneous discriminations within the same session, one learned through Trial-and-Error (TE) and the other through Errorless Learning (EL). For both groups, half of the trials began with the central key illuminated white and a peck was followed by a S+TE vs. S- TE discrimination. On the other half of the trials the central key was illuminated with a white cross and a peck was followed by a S+ EL vs. S- EL. During test the pigeons were presented with both S+ (S+ TE vs. S+ EL) or with both S- (S- TE vs. S- EL) stimuli. Results are analyzed in terms of implications for the “work ethic” effect and errorless learning. |
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| Demand for Different Feeds with Horses |
| Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| MARY JENNIE ARMISTEAD (NZABA and University of Waikato, Hamilton, NZ), T. Mary Foster (University of Waikato, New Zealand), William Temple (University of Waikato), Jennifer Chandler (University of Waikato) |
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| Abstract: There are limited published studies with horses that examine either their food preferences or use increasing work requirements to assess their demand for food. The first study used the method of Multiple Stimulus Without Replacement (MSWO) to measure horses’ preferences between four different foods and from these a high- and a low- preference food was selected. The horses were then exposed to three series of increasing fixed-ratio schedules with each of the high- and low-preference foods in fixed length sessions. The numbers of reinforcers obtained in a session were plotted as functions of the ratio size that session on double logarithmic coordinates. Demand functions were fitted to these data and the parameters of these for the high- and low-preference feeds were compared. |
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| Inducing and Expanding New Verbal Capabilities in Children and Young People with Autism Spectrum Disorders |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 10:00 AM–11:20 AM |
| Vampyr |
| Area: VBC/AUT; Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| Chair: Emma L. Hawkins (Jigsaw CABAS School, The) |
| Discussant: R. Douglas Greer (Columbia University Teacher) |
| CE Instructor: Ruth Anne Rehfeldt, Ph.D. |
| Abstract: A series of studies are presented from The Jigsaw CABAS® School. Developmental milestones that determine the attainment of verbal capabilities are defined ranging from pre-listener capabilities to reader/writer capabilities. Descriptions are provided of some of the procedures and protocols used to induce and expand new verbal capabilities in children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Data are provided to show the effectiveness of these specific procedures and protocols. |
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| Descriptions of Some of the Procedures and Protocols Used to Induce Transformation of Stimulus Function |
| EMMA L. HAWKINS (Jigsaw CABAS School, The), Jackie Charnock (The Jigsaw CABAS School), Grant Gautreaux (Nicholls State University) |
| Abstract: Descriptions are provided of some of the procedures and protocols used to induce transformation of stimulus function in children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorders. These procedures and protocols were described in detail by Greer and Ross (2008) and they are used in CABAS® schools worldwide. This paper focuses on the specific procedures and protocols being used at The Jigsaw CABAS® School, including tandem tact and mand training and multiple exemplar instruction. |
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| Multiple Exemplar Instruction of Vocal and Written Components of Spelling Responses to Induce Transformation of Stimulus Function in Children and Young People with Autism Spectrum Disorders |
| EDILAINE MIDDLETON (The Jigsaw CABAS School), Sheri Kingsdorf (Columbia University Teacher's College), Jackie Charnock (The Jigsaw CABAS School), Emma L. Hawkins (Jigsaw CABAS School, The) |
| Abstract: Multiple exemplar instruction of auditory and visual components of reading responses is used to induce reading comprehension in children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorders. This procedure is described in detail and data are provided to show its effectiveness. The social significance of the results is discussed. |
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| Multiple Exemplar Instruction of Listener and Reader Components of Reading Responses to Induce Reading Comprehension in Children and Young People with Autism Spectrum Disorders. |
| ELIZABETH ROUGIER (Jigsaw CABAS School, The), Emma L Martin (The Jigsaw CABAS School), Sheri Kingsdorf (Columbia University Teacher's College), Jackie Charnock (The Jigsaw CABAS School), Emma L. Hawkins (Jigsaw CABAS School, The) |
| Abstract: Multiple exemplar instruction of auditory and visual components of reading responses is used to induce reading comprehension in children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorders. This procedure is described in detail and data are provided to show its effectiveness. Adding print stimuli to the joint control over speaker and listener responding in the naming capability is also discussed. |
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| The Concept of Contingency in Selection by Consequences |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 11:00 AM–11:50 AM |
| SHB (Olympia) |
| Chair: Torunn Lian (Glenne Senter Vestfold, Norway) |
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| Operant Behavior and Selection in Cultural Systems |
| SIGRID S. GLENN (University of North Texas) |
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| Abstract: The conceptual parallel between organic and cultural evolution has been explored by writers in many fields, but they generally miss the function of operant behavior in the evolution of cultures. The difficulty these writers have had in identifying, defining, and observing the units of analysis in cultural selection processes may be due to their neglect of the function of operant behavior in cultural systems. It is here proposed that operant behavior has the function of replication in the evolution of cultural systems. However, operant behavior and operant processes do not tell the whole story. Everyday observation tells us that cultural systems can contain highly organized activities in coherent cultural entities, involving the behavior of many individuals and recurring over extended time. An explanatory framework for evolution in cultural systems will require identifying the units of selection in cultural systems and their functions in the evolution of those systems. |
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| Functional Analytic Assessment and Treatment of Problem Behavior Maintained by Negative Reinforcement |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 11:00 AM–12:20 PM |
| SHB (Kunst) |
| Area: AUT/DDA; Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| Chair: Cathleen Piazza (Munroe-Meyer Institute) |
| Discussant: David P. Wacker (University of Iowa) |
| Abstract: In 1987, Iwata described negative reinforcement as an “emerging technology” in the field of applied behavior analysis. Since that time, research on the unique role of negative reinforcement in the development, maintenance, and treatment of problem behavior has grown exponentially, despite criticisms that the distinction between positive and negative reinforcement is ambiguous and without functional significance (Baron & Galizio, 2005). In this symposium, we discuss recent advances in the study of aberrant behavior purportedly maintained by negative reinforcement, and show how functional analysis methods can lead to novel and effective treatments for problem behavior reinforced by escape from nonpreferred events. |
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| Evaluating and Integrating Positive Reinforcers into Assessments and Treatments for Destructive Behavior Reinforced by Escape among Children with Autism |
| WAYNE FISHER (Munroe-Meyer Institute, UNMC), Anna Ing (Munroe-Meyer Institute), Joanna Lomas (Marcus Institute), Michael E. Kelley (University of Southern Maine) |
| Abstract: Prior investigations have shown that a promising approach to the treatment of destructive behavior maintained by negative reinforcement involves the delivery empirically derived, positive reinforcers contingent on appropriate, alternative responses, such as communication or compliance (Lomas, Fisher, & Kelley, in press). This approach is especially useful for situations in which extinction of destructive behavior is impractical (e.g., tasks requiring vocal responses that cannot be physically guided) or the target response is potentially dangerous (e.g., increases in severe SIB due to extinction bursts). In the current presentation, we will discuss data from a series of investigations illustrating the role of positive reinforcement in establishing and abolishing the effectiveness of escape as reinforcement for destructive behavior during assessment and treatment. We will show that in some cases, the termination of ongoing positive reinforcers at the start of an instructional session can establish escape as effective reinforcement for destructive behavior. We will also show that in some cases destructive behavior reinforced by escape decreases with the introduction of positive reinforcement because the participant prefers the positive reinforcer over the negative reinforcer. Finally, we will show that in other cases the positive reinforcer functions as an abolishing operation (AO) that lessens the aversiveness of the demands, thus reducing destructive behavior. Results will be discussed in terms of the effects of positive reinforcement on escape-reinforced problem behavior. |
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| The Effects the Availability of Mands During Stimulus Fading Intervention for Problem Behavior |
| STEPHANIE M. PETERSON (Idaho State University), Jessica E Frieder (Utah State University), Carrie Brower-Breitwieser (Idaho State University), Elizabeth Dayton (Idaho State University), Stuart M Mullins (Idaho State University), Shilo Smith-Ruiz (College of Southern Idaho) |
| Abstract: Applied researchers have examined the use of concurrent-schedules arrangements, most typically involving two concurrently available response options, on the choice-making behavior for individuals with problem behavior (e.g., Harding et al., 1999; Horner & Day, 1991, Peck et al., 1996; Piazza et al., 1997; Richman et al., 2001). This presentation will describe a study in which the effects of mand availability during a stimulus fading intervention for escape-motivated problem behavior are evaluated. In this study, a concurrent schedules of reinforcement arrangement in which three response options (compliance, mands, and problem behavior) were available was compared to a concurrent schedules of reinforcement arrangement in which only two response options (compliance and problem behavior) were available (i.e., mands were placed on extinction. Results for one case example will be presented to illustrate. In this case example, the availability of reinforcement for the mand response resulted in less problem behavior during stimulus fading than when mands were not reinforced. However, these results were not consistent for all participants in the study. Discussion will focus on why this might be and questions currently under investigation relative whether an effective assessment can be developed to determine whether an individual requires the mand response for effective intervention. |
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| On the Effects of Response Effort to Increase Self-feeding in Children with Pediatric Feeding Disorders |
| CATHLEEN PIAZZA (Munroe-Meyer Institute), Kristi Rivas (Munroe-Meyer Institute), Henry S. Roane (University of Nebraska Medical Center & Munroe-Meyer Institute), Valerie M. Volkert (Munroe-Meyer Institute), Victoria Stewart (University of Nebraska Medical Center), Heather Kadey (Munroe-Meyer Institute, University of Nebraska Med) |
| Abstract: In the current investigation, we extended the basic and applied work on response effort to the behavior of self-feeding. We identified 7 children who were treated for a feeding disorder with a putative escape extinction procedure under the context of being fed by a caregiver or therapist. Each child chose to escape eating when given the opportunity to self-feed or to escape eating. Each child chose to be fed when given the opportunity to self-feed or be fed by a therapist or caregiver. We then altered the response effort associated with being fed relative to the effort associated with self-feeding until the child’s responding shifted from preference for being fed to preference for self-feeding. |
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| Number of training trials and the effect on emergent relations indicative of equivalence classes |
| LARS RUNE HALVORSEN (Akershus University College), Erik Arntzen (Akershus University College) |
| Abstract: A number of studies have shown diverse equivalence yields as a function of different training structures, i.e., the One-to-Many structure and the Many-to-One training structure have shown to be superior compared the Linear Series structure. It could be that effects have been related to the number of training trials. Thus, studies on stimulus equivalence have differed with respect to number training trials used. We wanted to study emergent relations indicative of equivalence classes as a function of different number of training trials. In the current experiment with the LS training structure, we wanted to study the equivalence outcome for participants in five groups with increasing number of trials for each group. In Group 1, the participants have to respond with 90 % correct responses for 18 responses in each of five blocks before testing for emergent relations. In Group 2, the participants have to respond with 90 % correct responses for 36 responses in each of five blocks before testing for emergent relations etc. Thus, in Group five the participants have to respond with 90 % correct responses for 90 responses in each of five blocks before testing for emergent relations. |
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| ACT process and outcome measures |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 11:00 AM–12:20 PM |
| 301 |
| Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| Chair: Tobias Lundgren (Uppsala University) |
| Abstract: The development of process and outcome measures in psychotherapy research is important for the development of psychological treatment. This symposium will present measurements that aim to measure valued living, psychological flexibility and believability in thoughts that become obstacles to live a valued life. The measurements presented are The Bull’s-Eye instrument of valued living, the Italian version of the Acceptance and Action questioner (AAQ) and the Norwegian version of the Bull’s-Eye instrument. The Bull’s-eye instrument show good test re-test reliability and satisfactory validity scores. This symposium presents data that will make international outcome and process research more precise due to the psychometric properties of the instruments from Italian, Norwegian, Swedish and USA populations. |
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| Measure values attainment using the Bulls-Eye instrument |
| TOBIAS LUNDGREN (Uppsala University), JoAnne Dahl (University of Uppsala, Sweden), Lennart Melin (University of Uppsala, Sweden) |
| Abstract: Bulls-Eye is an instrument that aims to measure values and valued living as described in Acceptance and commitment therapy, ACT. The instrument is designed as an outcome measure, a process measure and a clinical tool. Bulls-Eye consists of one dartboard where the client evaluates his or her values attainment in four areas: Relationships, Work, Health and Social activities. The instrument also evaluates the client’s believability in thought feelings, memories that function as barriers to a values attainment. The instrument shows a test re-test reliability of .86 and satisfactory criterion validity with DASS, SWLS, AAQ and MAAS. The Bulls-Eye Instrument seems to be useful in the clinical work with values, as an outcome measure as well as in the measuring process of values attainment and belivability in barriers towards values attainment.
Key words: Values, measurement, Bulls-Eye |
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| Measuring difference: An in-progress program of validation of ACT oriented clinical tools in Italy |
| GIOVANNI MISELLI (University of Milan), Giovambattista Presti (IULM University, Milan; IESCUM, ABA Italian Chapter), Elisa Rabitti (Iulm University - Iescum), Paolo Moderato (IULM University ITALY) |
| Abstract: The present work is developed with two main objectives: a) to make available for the Italian ACT community specific instrument psychometrically sound for measuring ACT processes and outcomes: b) to foster the national and international scientific communities in linking ACT mesurement to indipendent behavior mesurement in a behavior analytic sound context.
Following the work of other non-english speaking research communities (Jacobs; Kleen, Blokzijl, De Groot, A_Tjak, in press; Barraca Mairal, 2004) and the original work for the development of a short measure of experiential avoidance (Hayes, Strosahl, Wilson, Bissett, Pistorello, Toarmino, Polusny, Dykstra, Batten, Bergan, Stewart, Zvolensky, Eifert, Bond, Forsyth, Karekla & McCurry, 2004) an Italian research group worked on different clinical tools to validate Italian versions of the following: VLQ Valued Living Questionnaire (VLQ; Wilson, Sandoz, Kitchens e Roberts, in press), AAQII (Hayes, et al, 2004), BIAAQ (Sandoz, Wilson, & Merwin, under review), PAAQ, CPAQ (McCraken, Vowles, Eccleston, 2004). All these tools were validated following a double track procedure: a) Translating, back translating the instruments, evaluate their psychometric properties and correlations with other instruments in clinical and nonclinical sample.; b) Testing the instruments in measuring ACT based intervention, traditional Behavior Analytic Intervention and the correlations with indipendent measure of behavior.
Data, theorethical and practical implication from different research projects adopting ACT specific measure involving clinical and non clinical sample will be presented and discussed. |
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| ACT in the treatment of epilepsy in India and South Africa, two randomized controlled trails |
| TOBIAS LUNDGREN (Uppsala University), JoAnne Dahl (University of Uppsala, Sweden), Lennart Melin (University of Uppsala, Sweden) |
| Abstract: Epileptic seizures can be traumatic, stigmatizing and disabling for the persons who have a tendency to seize. In the western countries, most persons with epilepsy will be given an anticonvulsant drug therapy, which appears to reduce seizure frequency but also leaves a number of undesirable side effects. In many non-western countries these drugs are far too expensive and inaccessible to most people. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate an integrated health model for the treatment of refractory seizures in India and South Africa. The design in both studies was a RCT ABC group design with two conditions; In South Africa (N=27) ACT and Supportive treatment and in India (N=18) ACT and Yoga The inclusion criterion for participation was at least 4 seizures during the last three months, age 15 or older, no other ongoing illness, able and willing to participate in the study. Each condition consisted of one individual session, two group sessions followed by one more individual session. The ACT condition consisted of the treatment principles: Values identification, cognitive diffusion, exposure, commitment and behaviour modification. The Yoga was based on 5 positions that stimulated the vagus nerve, which has documented effect on decreasing seizures. The control group was given supportive treatment based on acceptance and reflective listening. Treatment effects were measured by means of looking at life quality, experiential avoidance, seizure Index, Bulls-eye, EEG. The result at the one year follow up showed a significant decrease in seizure index in favour of the ACT group as compared to both the Yoga group and the supportive treatment group. There was a significant increase in life quality and life function in both the ACT and Yoga group. These results suggest that a integrated health model may contribute in the treatment of epilepsy and related problems.
Key words: ACT, Epilepsy, Yoga, developing countries. |
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| Bulls-eye or “Innertier” in a Norwegian context |
| JON A. LOKKE (University College of Ostfold, Norway), Gunn Lokke (University College of Ostfold, Norway) |
| Abstract: There is a need for behaviorally based instruments that measure change in personally chosen directions. The Bulls-eye instrument is developed (Lundgren, Dahl, Strohsal, Melin, in press) as a dartboard with a Likert scale. Participants rate the degree to which personally stated values are attained by marking a value from 0 to 7 on the dartboard. Furthermore, participants present obstacles that prevent attainment of personally stated values, and rate the degree to which obstacles prevent valued actions. Values are defined as verbal expressions about vital and meaningful directions that reinforce further activity in such directions.
Translation of the “Bulls eye” into other languages, and evaluation of the psychometric properties in different clinical samples would make the instrument available to a broader research community and increase its clinical usefulness. The aim of the present study was to translate Bulls-eye into Norwegian and evaluate the instrument in a setting with Norwegian students. We present the translated instrument and report psychometric properties. |
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| Variables influencing stimulus equivalence |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 11:00 AM–12:20 PM |
| SHB (Film) |
| Area: EAB/VBC; Domain: Experimental Analysis |
| Chair: Erik Arntzen (Akershus University College) |
| Abstract: In the current symposium we will present different studies focusing on variables which are important for the formation of equivalence classes. In the first paper, Eilifsen, Vignes, and Arntzen will present some results indicating the effectiveness of pictures or familiar stimuli when the training conditional relations and the subsequent tests for emergent relations. The study replicated earlier findings in our lab. The second paper (Lian and Arntzen) is concerned with delayed-matching-to-sample in children. The effectiveness of titrating delays vs. fixed delays will be discussed. Halvorsen and Arntzen, in the third paper, focus on responding in accord with equivalence as a function of number of training trials. Finally, Haugland, Arntzen and Dickins study the probability of responding in accord with equivalence after titrating the limited hold to comparison stimuli during training. |
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| The effect of using familiar stimuli as nodes on the equivalence class formation in children |
| CHRISTOFFER EILIFSEN (Akershus University College), Tore Vignes (Akershus University College), Erik Arntzen (Akershus University College) |
| Abstract: Several studies have found that the use of familiar stimuli, in the form of pictures, as the nodes results in a higher yields of responding in accord with equivalence (e.g., Arntzen, 2004; Holth & Arntzen, 1998). Contrary to these findings, a study by Smeets and Barnes-Holmes (2005), employing different training structures, found that the use of familiar stimuli as nodes resulted in a lower yield of equivalence consistent responding in children, compared to using abstract stimuli as nodes. We wanted to replicate this study and to expand it by introducing more classes of stimuli and other types of stimuli, both abstract stimuli and pictures. Experiment 1 was a direct replication, except that instructions given the participants in Smeets and Barnes-Holmes (2005) were excluded. We found that the conditions with pictures as nodes were more effective in producing equivalence consistent responding than the conditions with all abstract stimuli. In Experiment 2, three 3-member stimulus classes were established and different types of stimuli were used. So far the findings have been replicated with this increased number of classes. Experiment 3 will be conducted by establishing three 5-member classes. |
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| Effects of fixed and titrating retention intervals in equivalence tasks |
| TORUNN LIAN (Akershus University College), Erik Arntzen (Akershus University College) |
| Abstract: In delayed matching to sample procedures retention interval refers to the time interval from the disappearance of sample stimulus to the presentation of comparison stimuli. Lately, several studies have investigated the effects of different retention intervals on the establishment of baseline relations and responding in accord with equivalence, most of them in adult participants. A retention interval can be administered fixed, that is providing the same interval throughout baseline training, or varied across trials. One way to vary the interval is to base increase or decrease of the interval on participant’s performance, usually referred to as titrating delay. In this study we used a group design to investigate the effects of three different fixed and titrating retention intervals in children. |
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| Reaction time and stimulus equivalence |
| SILJE HAUGLAND (Akershus University College), Erik Arntzen (Akershus University College), David W. Dickins (University of Liverpool) |
| Abstract: Reaction time is a very sensitive measure and it could be difficult to make interpretation of reaction time data per ce. On the other hand, reaction time has been seen as an important supplementary measure in the study of emergent relations (Dymond & Rehfeldt, 2001). Holth and Arntzen (1998) found that when reaction time restrictions of 2 s during testing for emergent relations, none of the participants responded in accord with equivalence. However Tomanari, Sidman, Rubio, and Dube (2006) found that it was possible to titrate the limited hold to very low values, and still three of five participants responded in accord with equivalence. In the current study, we wanted further to explore the knowledge by titrating limited hold to comparison stimuli to a mean reaction time of 1.5 s before testing for equivalence. We will discuss the difficulties with this procedure and possible solutions. |
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| The Matrix of Social & Verbal Behavior: A Theoretical Frame for Developing Verbal Behavior within Social Behavior |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 11:30 AM–11:50 AM |
| Madonna |
| Area: VBC |
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| The Matrix of Social & Verbal Behavior: A Theoretical Frame for Developing Verbal Behavior within Social Behavior |
| Domain: Theory |
| MICHAEL BEN-ZVI (IABA) |
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| Abstract: The Matrix of Social & Verbal Behavior: A Theoretical Frame for Developing Verbal Behavior within Social Behavior |
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| Human Development, Gerontology Paper Session 2 |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 11:30 AM–12:20 PM |
| Base 1 |
| Area: DEV |
| Chair: Ramazan Ari (SELCUK UNIVERCITY) |
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| An Investigation of Psychosocial Development of Adolescents with Respect to Their Attachment Styles |
| Domain: Theory |
| RAMAZAN ARI (Selçuk University), Emel Arslan (Selçuk University) |
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| Abstract: This study aims to investigate whether psycho-social development stages (trust, autonomy, initiative, industry and identity) depend on the attachment styles. The sample of the study is composed of 1,525 adolescents. In the study, to get the psycho-social development stages (trust, autonomy, initiative, industry and identity) scores of the students, Erikson’s scale of psycho-social development stages (Rosenthal, Gurney & Moore, 1981) was used, and to determine attachment styles (secure, preoccupied, fearful, dismissing) Inventory of Experiences in Close Relationships - Revised (Fraley, Waller & Brennan, 2000) was used. It was found that the mean scores of psycho-social development stages (trust, autonomy, initiative, industry and identity) according to attachment style varied significantly. The individuals who are attached with secure and dismissing were found to have higher level of “trust”. It was found that the adolescents attaching with dismissing made greater level of benefactions in terms of “autonomy”, “initiative”, “industry” and “identity.” |
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| Personality and Disfuntioning in the Elderly |
| Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| PAUL J. H. ANDREOLI (innosearch bv) |
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| Abstract: For elderly people the uniqueness of their functioning repertoire is a result of a long history of conditioning. From a behavior analytic perspective the concept of personality is considered as the overall prevailing pattern of personal functioning. This personal functioning is successful when it is adaptive and contributes to survival, self-maintenance and a better personal state: emotional well being. Personal Successful Functioning (PSF) concerns the behavioral activity by which the person is safeguarding his emotional well being. The absence of discriminative stimuli for PSF or restrictions in responding to them makes the person vulnerable in safeguarding his emotional well being. Protracted circumstances in where the person is restricted in his PSF are leading to disordered behavior labeled as anxiety, agitation, psychotic delusions, etc and maladaptive behaviors for example increasing withdrawal, passivity (maladaptive escape and passive avoidance), obsessive behavior (maladaptive active avoidance ) and rumination, suicidal ideation, etc. (respondent reactions in a state of discomfort). We will present how Functioning Focused Rehabilitation (FFR) and Functioning Focused Behavior Therapy (FFBT) are providing a wide range of strategies to activate PSF of elderly people with maladaptive patterns of behavior even in case of persistent prevailing patterns of maladaptive behaviors labeled as personality disorder. |
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| Decreasing Persistent Errors in Well-learned Skills |
| Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| PARSLA VINTERE (Queens College, CUNY), Claire L. Poulson (Queens College/CUNY) |
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| Abstract: The effectiveness of two movement-training procedures, conventional movement training and a behavioral movement-training (BMT) package, to decrease persistent errors in six well-learned classical ballet movements is examined. Three female college dance students participated in the study. The BMT package contained: (a) a lecture on a given movement; (b) the student experiencing both the correct and incorrect performance; (c) the student classifying her own performance; (d) the student describing her own performance errors; and (e) the student receiving feedback on her movement performance and verbal responding. A multiple-baseline experimental design across classical ballet movements was used. Three of the six movements were directly trained and the other three movements were used as generalization probes and they were not directly trained. The data indicate that during baseline, participants performed below the chance level on all six movements. For all participants, a systematic increase in the percentage of trials with correct classical movements was observed following the BMT procedure on all six movements. The findings suggest that the BMT package may provide complementary strategies to conventional movement training. |
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| Language: Its Role in Indigenous Education and Culture |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 11:30 AM–12:20 PM |
| Salome |
| Area: CSE/EDC; Domain: Service Delivery |
| Chair: Abigail B. Calkin (Calkin Consulting Center) |
| Discussant: Janet S. Twyman (Headsprout) |
| Abstract: Indigenous education has not kept pace with the educational progress of Western Europeans and North Americans. Confronted by language and cultural losses, indigenous peoples try to meld yet retain their way of life. Looking at the circumpolar nations’ practices as well as North American Native cultures, we notice that their practices and language have often been lost or systematically eradicated in favor of the more dominant, western way of life. These small groups and the governments around the Northern Hemisphere have begun to look at the impact of these practices and how to preserve Native integrity while integrating people into the local, national population for economic survival. Is this even possible? Yes, but the results and potential for success hinge on the role central government and native government agencies play and on increasing the use of research-based explicit instructional programs and procedures. The participants, who work with the education of indigenous groups, will share standardized test scores and standard celeration chart data from their work with Native American and First Nations peoples. Data collected and analyzed from hundreds of students show that we can educate people at the 80th percentile while retaining cultural heritages. |
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| Indigenous Education in the Far North and the USA Lower 48 |
| ABIGAIL B. CALKIN (Calkin Consulting Center) |
| Abstract: In 2003, Chief Darren Isaac of the Selkirk First Nations band of the Northern Tutchone Tribe in Canada’s Yukon Territory asked what were the academic achievement levels of other peoples in the Circumpolar Regions. This question has many answers—some areas have high achievement, others do not, and on top of any answer given is the cultural overlay. In the Far North of Russia, Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Scandinavia, education systems have been used to acculturate native populations as well as destroy the local native culture. Even though countries do not use the same yardstick, we can begin to glimpse cross-national and cross-cultural comparisons by using standard scores, researched, authoritative opinions, and achievement test scores. In an effort to help indigenous populations in the Far North and southern areas create the bridge to Western culture and achievement, village and tribal schools in many areas have used the Morningside Academy model. Two schools showing significant achievement growth are in British Columbia and Oklahoma. |
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| The Intersection and Culture |
| KRISTINE F. MELROE (Morningside Academy) |
| Abstract: Native nations in the U.S. face a critical juncture to assimilate or maintain their culture. Historically, education, a discipline that can have profound effects on social change, has played a destructive role for U.S. Native cultures and languages. Faced with limited options, Natives can become proficient in English and gain the needed skills to succeed: They can move off the reservation to be economically stable and assimilated, or stay on the reservation with few limited job opportunities and poverty yet surrounded by native culture. To move forward into positive educational and cultural developments, we offer a historical review of the role that the educational systems have played.
This presentation examines the effects that loss of language has on culture. Through surveys and interviews, we share the concerns of parents and community and their vision the role education should play in saving the language and culture. We compare this to what has been written about the various cultures and languages. The behavior analyst’s understanding of human behavior places us in a unique position to make substantial contributions. An applied behavior analysis approach to education should help delineate appropriate interventions that support culture and language so students can move between the cultures. |
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| A School-Wide Peer Tutoring Implementation in an Elementary School in Turkey |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 11:30 AM–12:20 PM |
| Vampyr |
| Area: EDC/DDA; Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| Chair: Elif Tekin-Iftar (Anadolu Universitesi) |
| ELIF TEKIN-IFTAR (Anadolu Universitesi) |
| SERHAT ODLUYURT (Anadolu University) |
| ONUR KURT (Anadolu University, Turkey) |
| Abstract: Peer mediated practices are getting attention from professionals in order to provide better educational experiences in inclusion settings. Peer tutoring is one of the forms of peer mediated instruction. The purpose of this panel is to introduce a three step school-wide peer tutoring implementation in an elementary school in Turkey.
The first panelist will explain how to train peers and teachers to deliver instruction reliably.
The second panelist will explain the purpose and results of the first experiment in the study. In this study, the effects of simultaneous prompting procedure delivered by peer tutors on teaching both discrete academic skills and the chained skills to the peer tutees with developmental disabilities in inclusion settings is investigated. The participants, research method and results of the study will be shared with the audience.
The third panelist will summarize the purpose and results of the second investigation which is planned to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of peer-delivered and teacher-delivered SP on teaching both discrete and chained academic skills. The participants, research method and results of the study will also be shared with the audience.
Beside these findings, implications and future directions of peer mediated instruction will be discussed by the panelists. |
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| Emerging Technologies for the Delivery of Behavior Analysis Services to Applied Settings |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 11:30 AM–12:20 PM |
| Madonna |
| Area: EDC; Domain: Service Delivery |
| CE Instructor: Mark L. Sundberg, Ph.D. |
| Chair: Donald M. Stenhoff (University of Kentucky) |
| ROBERT PENNINGTON (University of Kentucky) |
| JASON CARROLL (Central Kentucky Special Education Cooperative) |
| Abstract: As the demand for behavior analysis services continue to increase in a variety of applied settings, it is imperative that delivery methods are investigated to increase time availability and reduce associated costs. Technology based tools are rapidly emerging that allow practitioners to provide behavior analysis services to remote sites while achieving desired outcomes. Until recently distance technology has been costly, needed extensive expertise to operate, and required dedicated space to house equipment. This panel will describe emerging web-based technologies that have been used in the delivery of consultation services to classroom and home settings. Additionally, the use of web-based technologies to conduct research activities including inter-observer agreement and treatment fidelity from remote sites will be shared. A variety of technologies will be discussed including desktop videoconferencing and screensharing applications. Outcomes of investigations demonstrating the utility of the web-based technologies will be shared along with recommendations for practitioner/researchers who are considering the incorporation of these technologies into practice. |
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| Education Paper Session 2 |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 2:00 PM–2:50 PM |
| Madonna |
| Chair: Kristine F. Melroe (Morningside Academy) |
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| Generativity and Contingency Adduction, Part 2 |
| Domain: Service Delivery |
| KRISTINE F. MELROE (Morningside Academy) |
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| Abstract: For over 25 years, we have been developing a model of teaching and learning at Morningside Academy which we call the Morningside Model of Generative Instruction. It is generative in the sense that not only do we teach foundation skills, such as reading, writing, math; but also thinking, reasoning and problem solving skills, including how to apply what you already know to engage in untaught, novel performances.
Contingency adduction is the term we use to tact this integration of prior learning to meet the requirements of new contingency contexts. In our account, behaviors learned under separate conditions are recruited under new conditions to form new combinations or blends that serve a new or different function. Repertoires selected from the combination and recombination of previous selections become part of the selecting environment for further repertoires, and so on, to produce increasingly complex behavior. In this way, complex behavior can be viewed as the evolving outcomes of a learner’s environmental selection history. I will give examples of student repertoires adduced by contingencies in our classrooms at Morningside Academy, with some data.
Contingency adduction may be promoted in at least 3 ways: careful sequencing of instructional objectives, delayed prompting from teachers and peers, and teaching generative reasoning and problem solving repertoires. I will briefly outline these approaches.
Our Generative Instruction procedures and the phenomenon of contingency adduction make explicit some of the conditions that produce some types of novel behavior, complex behavior, and discovery learning. |
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| Increasing Basic Skills in Maths Using Precision Teaching and Fluency Based Instruction |
| Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| MICHAEL BEVERLEY (Centre for Behaviour Analysis, Bangor University), John Carl Hughes (Bangor University), Richard P. Hastings (University of Wales Bangor) |
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| Abstract: The study took place in two local primary schools in North Wales. Children (aged 9-10) who were identified as the lowest performers in comparison to their peers took part in the study. They were randomly allocated to either the treatment group or a waiting list control group; in addition a group of typically developing children were used as a comparison group for analysis. Children were pre-tested on four slices of maths tool skills and varying difficulties of problems (e.g., writing numbers 0-9, adding single digit-single digit). Pre-test results were used to pinpoint the correct instructional level for the intervention children, who then engaged in daily short sprint timings for seewrite maths practice sheets and seesay SAFMEDS cards; the rest of the class received their standard maths instruction. Count per minute data for corrects and learning opportunities were recorded and then plotted by the children on Standard Celeration Charts (SCC); the data and emergent learning pictures were used to make instructional decisions about progress. The intervention ran over a 5-week period with each session lasting approximately 30 minutes; at the end of the intervention period an equivalent post-test was re-administered to all children. Results are discussed in the context of incorporating simple basic skills exercises into mainstream classes and the practical issues this raises. |
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| Teaching Behavior Analysis Paper Session 2 |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 2:00 PM–2:20 PM |
| Vampyr |
| Area: TBA |
| Chair: Sandy Alexandar Hobbs (University of Paisley) |
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| The "Cognitive Revolution" from the Point of View of Radical Behaviorism |
| Domain: Theory |
| Mecca Chiesa (University of Kent), SANDY HOBBS (University of the West of Scotland) |
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| Abstract: Since general introductory textbooks have a major part to play in shaping students' conceptions of psychology, a systematic review has been undertaken of the treatment of the so-called "cognitive revolution" in 40 such texts. Content analysis suggests that is commonly claimed that behaviorism dominated psychology in the first half of the twentieth century and that during that time cognitive processes went virtually unexplored. It is argued that there is clear evidence that this picture is false, in that a considerable amount of research on cognition took place during the period of the supposed "domination" of psychology by behaviorism. It is further argued that many introductory texts give a misleading impression of the nature of early behaviorism by mentioning only the positions of Watson and Skinner. Many texts also fail to indicate the growth of behavior analysis since the 1950s. It is concluded that radical behaviorists need to challenge the authors and publishers of introductory textbooks on these issues. |
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| Autism Paper Session 4 |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 2:00 PM–3:20 PM |
| SHB (Kunst) |
| Chair: Giovambattista Presti (IULM University, Milan; IESCUM, ABA Italian Chapter) |
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| Extension of the Equivalence Class Paradigm to an Italian Reading Curriculum for an Autistic Child |
| Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| Alessandra Messina (MIPIA (Italy)), GIOVAMBATTISTA PRESTI (IULM University, Milan; IESCUM, ABA Italian Chapter), Paolo Moderato (IULM University ITALY/ IESCUM ABAI Italian chapter) |
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| Abstract: Equivalence class paradigm has been used to teach reading in languages other than English. A 10 year old autistic child was taught basic reading skills under a conditional-discrimination procedure to test the feasibility of this procedure in Italian too. Three sets of stimuli were used: A (capital letter), B (picture), and C (small letter). Subject learned to select B and C conditionally upon A. We trained six relations: A1B1, A1C1, A2B2, A2C2, A3B3, and A3C3. Subject met criterium to mastery if in 89% of opportunities for 3 consecutive sessions, across 2 people and 1 setting, correct sample was chosen. We used a time delay prompt and FR1 schedule of reinforcement. After both trainings were mastered, we tested for the emerging of the not specifically taught relations. During training and test sessions, subject spoke spontaneously the names when choosing comparison stimulus. We thus tested without any further training a new emergent relation: written words – spoken words. Thus all relations containing D, extending the class to four stimulus, emerged probably as an effect of spontaneous vocalizing during the previous training phase. This is the first case, to our knowledge, where stimulus equivalence training was used in an Italian speaking environment to teach basic reading skills. |
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| TRIALS TO TRANSFER: ANOTHER DIMENSION TO DEVELOPING AND ASSESSING INDIVIDUAL PROGRAMS FOR LEARNERS IN EARLY INTERVENTION PROGRAMS FOR AUTISM AND DEVELOPMENTAL DELAY |
| Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| DARIN BRUCE CAIRNS (L.E.A.R.N.) |
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| Abstract: Measurements of mastery have long been accepted as the pivotal measurement system for the tracking and designing of programs to address the learning needs of children with Autism and related developmental delays. Little attention, however, has been paid to assessing how effectively and efficiently the child learns from the teaching and prompting methods employed. Trials to transfer provides an invaluable measure that allows instructional designers and Behaviour Analysts to determine how a learner is responding to a given teaching method as opposed to only focussing on what the child has learned. This form of analysis has significant implications for effectively tailoring methods to the child and to the assessment of pivotal 'learning skill' cusps. Examples from our current program where this form of analysis has become a core component will be shown and discussed in terms of implementation and the effect it has had on developing of the program and our curricular. |
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| The Effects of PECS on Vocal Language. |
| Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| ANGELIKA ANDERSON (Krongold Centre, Monash University), Dennis W. Moore (Monash University) |
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| Abstract: The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is a widely utilized intervention strategy to teach communication skills to children with developmental delays, including autism. A feature of PECS is that it incorporates principles deemed by some to be pivotal to broader behaviour change, for example increasing motivation and encouraging initiations of social interactions. There is increasing evidence of the effectiveness of PECS including evidence for its capacity to promote more widespread and concomitant behavior change in untargeted behaviors such as spoken language, social-communicative behaviors, and functional play. This paper reports on a series of studies teaching PECS to Stage 4 and beyond to children with autism, with a focus on concomitant changes in untargeted behaviors such a vocal language and social skills. Results indicated that the more widespread behavior changes associated with PECS training (in particular, vocal language development) tend to appear during Stage 4 of the training program. |
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| Human Development, Gerontology Paper Session 1 |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 2:00 PM–3:20 PM |
| Base 1 |
| Chair: Yash P. Manchanda (Retired- Part Time Practice) |
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| Role of Mental Health Providers in End-Of-Life Care |
| Domain: Service Delivery |
| YASH P. MANCHANDA (Retired- Part-Time Practice) |
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| Abstract: The Culturally diverse and the aging population in developmental centers of this country requires new skills for the Mental Health Providers. This presentation is based upon ELNEC (City of Hope/AACN) conference and Internet-based education on end-of-life issues for mental health providers, developed by eNursing LLC(www.enursingllc.com) with CE from APA, provides an overview of the role of a mental health providers at the end-of-life. The topics include: Principles of palliative care, pain/non-pain management, and vignettes on cultural/ethical issues and bereavement. |
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| The Relationship Between Conflict Communication, Self-esteem, and Life Satisfaction in University Students |
| Domain: Theory |
| COSKUN ARSLAN (Selçuk University), Erdal Hamarta (Selçuk University), mustafa Uslu (Selçuk University) |
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| Abstract: The current study used a survey model to analyze 306 university students to investigate associations between life satisfaction, self-esteem, and conflict communication. Data was collected from the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (Rosenberg,1965), The Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, and Griffin,1985), and Conflict Communication Scale(Goldstein,1999). Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were determined. The results of the study show that self-esteem is positively correlated with confrontation, emotional expression, self-disclosure, and life satisfaction. The results also show that life satisfaction is positively correlated with confrontation, emotional expression, and self-disclosure. |
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| An Investigation of Problem Solving Skills in Disabled Childrens' Mothers and Healthy Childrens' Mothers |
| Domain: Theory |
| EMEL ARSLAN (Selçuk University), safiye Sunay Yildirim dogru (Selçuk University), coskun arslan (Selçuk University) |
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| Abstract: The current study used a survey model to investigate associations between problem solving skills of 44 disabled childrens' mothers and 42 healty childrens' mothers. The research instrument used was Problem Solving Inventory (PSI) which was developed by Heppner & Peterson (1982) and adopted to Turkish samples by Sahin, Sahin & Heppner (1993). The high scores on the PSI show that the participant perceives him/herself as inadequate in problem solving. To analyze data, t test was employed. Impulsive approach, reflective approach, avoidant approach, monitoring approach, problem solving confidence approach, planned approach of disabled childrens' mothers were found to be significantly higher scores than healthy childrens' mothers. |
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| A Behavioral Systems Approach to Psychological Disorders |
| Domain: Theory |
| GARY D. NOVAK (California State University, Stanislaus), Martha Pelaez (Florida International University) |
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| Abstract: While traditional psychotherapy continues to treat psychological disorders as conditions residing inside the individual, behavior analysis has long held the view that these are behavioral problems maintained by environmental conditions.
Novak and Pelaez (Novak, 1996; Novak & Pelaez, 2004) have presented a developmental viewpoint that combines behavior analytic principles with dynamic systems ones. This Behavioral Systems approach has been applied principally to normal child development, but is relevant to a behavior disorders.
The paper will provide a behavioral definition of psychological disorders that emphasizes the relative and arbitrary deviations from normal behavior in the direction of excesses or deficiencies. Reinforcement and stimulus control issues will be described.
The paper will outline four key concepts of a behavioral systems analysis of development relevant to psychological disorders. These are multiple determinism, equifinality, bidirectionality, and the four term contingency. The paper will explain why a developmental analysis is the most appropriate one for understanding psychological disorders and the benefits this type of analysis has over traditional psychological or behavioral ones. The examples of autism and attention deficit disorders will be used to illustrate this behavioral systems analysis. |
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| New directions in equivalence research: Investigating the role of training conditions on testing outcomes. |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 2:00 PM–3:20 PM |
| SHB (Film) |
| Area: EAB/TPC; Domain: Experimental Analysis |
| Chair: Manish Vaidya (University of North Texas) |
| Discussant: Erik Arntzen (Akershus University College) |
| Abstract: A casual perusal of the history of science shows that a progressively complex and subtle understanding of a subject matter depends on our ability to ask increasingly sophisticated and pointed questions about the subject matter. The three presentations in the proposed symposium represent novel attempts to understand the particular role of training conditions in the development of equivalence relations. The first presentation, by Arntzen, Grondahl, & Eilifsen presents the results of an investigation of the effects of OTM or MTO training structures on the likelihood of equivalence. The second presentation, by Perez & Tomanari presents the results of an extremely innovative eye-tracking procedure in which the experimenters established select or reject control during training of baseline relations and measured the likelihood of equivalence-consistent responding. The third presentation, by Vaidya, presents data from multiple studies in which delays between sample offset and comparison-array onset were manipulated. In each case, an explicit attempt is made to ascertain whether variations in training conditions are systematically related to the likelihood of equivalence-consistent outcomes. |
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| On Training Structures and Stimulus Equivalence |
| ERIK ARNTZEN (Akershus University College), Terje Grondahl (Ostfold University College), Christoffer Eilifsen (Akershus University College) |
| Abstract: Previous studies comparing groups of subjects have indicated differential probabilities of stimulus equivalence outcome as a function of training structures. Thus, both one to many (OTM) and many to one (MTO) training structures seem to produce positive outcome on tests for stimulus equivalence more often than a linear series (LS) training structure at least in a simultaneous protocol. The purpose of the present study was to replicate earlier findings on the effect of training structures and the equivalence outcome in a single-subject design. One of the predictions from the discrimination analysis of Saunders and Green (1999) is that the differences in outcome between training structures should increase with number of members. Thus, we wanted to study the equivalence outcome in three 3-member classes vs. three 4-member classes. In addition, we included all types of tests and changing the density of feedback before testing. The results from the current study replicated some earlier findings and showed that OTM gave a slightly better outcome on the equivalence test than MTO, and that both gave better outcome than LS. The reaction time data also replicated earlier findings which showed an increase from baseline to testing, and a higher increase in reaction time on equivalence than symmetry tests. Furthermore, the difference between OTM and MTO increased with a greater number of members. Finally, we included a recording of the duration of each structure, and the LS training structure with three 4-member classes was the structure with the longest duration. I the second experiment, we trained three 3-member classes in five participants with OTM structure, since the structure has never been trained alone and therefore to disprove the argument of the effect of order. In the third experiment, we wanted to replicate the findings from earlier experiments with LS training structures and to find out if the direct trained relations were intact even if participants did not respond in accord with equivalence. Experiment #3 both replicated the findings from Experiment #1 and earlier experiments, and the results showed that the participants responded correct on baseline trials when they were interspersed with test trials in the test blocks. |
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| Eye movements and stimulus control topographies in conditional discrimination training and equivalence tests |
| Willian Ferreira Perez (Universidade de São Paulo), GERSON A. Y. TOMANARI (University of Sao Paulo) |
| Abstract: The operant analysis of eye movements can add relevant contributions to the study of visual stimulus control. We will report an experiment in which we employed an eye-tracking equipment as long as we exposed four normal adults to a conditional discrimination training followed by equivalence tests in a two-choice matching-to-sample task. During training, selection control (i.e., a correct choice controlled by S+) and rejection control (i.e., a correct choice controlled by S-) were biased by increasing the number of either S+ (to favor the rejection of S-) or S- (to favor the selection of S+). When selection control was favored, all participants responded according to the formation of equivalence classes, as verified in the symmetry, transitivity, reflexivity and equivalence tests. As rejection control was favored, only one participant showed systematic failures in all tests except symmetry, the expected results given a rejection control. This participant's eye movements showed that the rejection (vs. selection) condition accumulated a higher frequency of correct choices followed by the cases the participant looked only at S-. In addition, the frequency and duration of looking at S- were higher than looking at the S+ in the rejection, but not in the selection-control condition. |
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| DMTS procedures and equivalence relations: New preparations and data |
| MANISH VAIDYA (University of North Texas) |
| Abstract: How do conditions of training and testing effect the likelihood of derived relational responding? Recent reports by Arntzen (2006, 2007) and Vaidya & Smith (2006) show an increased likelihood of responding systematically and accurately on tests for derived relations when the training is conducted in a delayed- matching-to-sample (DMTS) procedure. Vaidya & Smith (2006), for example, found an increased likelihood of symmetry-consistent choices for subjects experiencing an 8-s delay between sample offset and comparison onset relative to subjects experiencing 0-s or 2-s delays. This address will present some new data on attempts to replicate and extend the results presented earlier. In particular, data are presented from studies that attempt to minimize covert naming in an attempt to test a ‘mediating-response hypothesis of the observed effects. The presentation will end with a consideration of the relevance of DMTS procedures to answering important theoretical questions about the mechanisms of equivalence class formation. |
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| Consumer Behavior Analysis: Interpretation and Experimental Analysis |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 2:00 PM–3:20 PM |
| 301 |
| Domain: Experimental Analysis |
| Chair: Gordon R. Foxall (Cardiff University) |
| Abstract: The papers in this symposium present an array of perspectives on consumer behavior analysis which aim to demonstrate the epistemological considerations inherent in the range of methodologies available to researchers. The first paper (Foxall) explores the merits and demerits of experimental and non-experimental means of developing knowledge of consumer behavior in advanced marketing-oriented economies. It discusses the advantages and limitations of experiments and contrasts these with the opportunities to learn more about consumer choice through survey and panel data. The second paper (by Fagerstrøm, Arntzen and Foxall) is concerned to apply the matching law to experimental data in a consumer context; this work was undertaken in Norway. Sigurdsson, in the third paper, describes a field experiment that was conducted in a store in Iceland and this allows real-world marketing problems to be investigated in a natural setting. Finally, James describes store choice behaviour based on panel data for UK consumers. All in all, the papers allow the comparison of several techniques and conclusions to be drawn with respect to the progress of consumer behavior analysis. |
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| The Role of Experiments in Consumer Behavior Analysis |
| GORDON R. FOXALL (Cardiff University) |
| Abstract: Consumer behavior analysis is a new field which has produced theoretical perspectives on economic psychology and behavior analysis. Its central explanatory device, the Behavioral Perspective Model, was employed initially in the interpretation of known patterns of consumer choice. More recently, empirical research has been undertaken using psychometric methods and consumer panel data. Experimental work has also been undertaken in the last 2-3 years, some of which is discussed in this symposium. There are difficulties, however, in the interpretation of experimental results in all human behavior analysis and, in the case of consumer behavior analysis, specific considerations arise with respect to the application of laboratory findings to natural settings involving marketing and customer protection. In addition, experimental research raises questions for the future of consumer behavior analysis as a methodologically integrated component of operant psychology. This paper is concerned, therefore, with the justification for using experimental methods in consumer behavior analysis and the integration of experimental findings with theoretical developments and continuing research that employs non-experimental approaches. |
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| On the role of Matching Law in Consumer Behavior |
| ASLE FAGERSTROM (The Norwegian School of Information Technology, Norway), Erik Arntzen (Akershus University College), Gordon R. Foxall (Cardiff University) |
| Abstract: From a behavioral analytic view, the analysis of consumer choices is concerned with the distribution of operant behavior among alternative source of reinforcement. When several alternatives are available, one alternative may be chosen more frequently than others. This phenomena, which originally was identify in laboratory using nonhumans, is named the “matching law”. To examine the generality of the matching law with humans, we arranged a simulated online purchase situation in two experiments with 20 participants in each experiment. The participants had to purchase products (112 in all) from two different shops, which only differed in color (blue or orange). Free shipment was the presumed reinforcer for purchasing. In the first experiment, the reinforcer was arranged in VR4 and VR8 schedules randomly assigned to the blue and the orange shop. In the second experiment, the reinforcer was arranged for VR4 and VR16 schedules randomly assigned to the blue and the orange shop. Results from the experiments show both matching and undermatching. The present study represents one out of few attempts to apply matching theory as an explanation of consumer decision behavior. |
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| In-Store Experiments in Consumer Behavior Analysis: An Example and Future Directions |
| VALDIMAR SIGURDSSON (Reykjavik University) |
| Abstract: An in-store experiment was performed to investigate the effects of a point-of-purchase display on unit sales. The research design used was an alternating treatment design with baseline conditions before and after. The experimental conditions (the alternating treatment) consisted of periodically placing two copies of the same display on the shelf where the product is sold in different kinds of stores. The outcome was unanticipated; showing the inability of the display to affect relative sales of the target brand. The in-store experiment, however, does not inform why the display did not work and how such a point of purchase stimuli should be conducted effectively. To enrich the explanatory system, future improvements could focus on detecting orderly relationships in a broader perspective. Before an in-store experiment is conducted it is helpful to analyze different kind of consumer behavior related to the brand (e.g., verbal behavior), and also while the experiment is run. The experimental design itself could also detect more than the effects of only one variable as integration, a small marketing mix, may produce different results compared to when each individual factor is tested. |
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| Retail Choice and Consumer Behavior Analysis: An exploratory study |
| VICTORIA K. JAMES (Cardiff University (Cardiff Business School)) |
| Abstract: Consumer behavior analysis as the coming together of behavior analysis, behavioral economics, and marketing, has been used to explore a number of issues in the field of marketing. These ranged from brand choice, the substitutability of brands within their choice set or repertoire, reinforcement patterns (utilizing the Behavioral Perspective Model or BPM framework), maximization and deviations from matching. However these studies have concentrated on only the brand or subcategory level of analysis. This paper reports on an exploratory consumer behavior analysis study focused at the retail level of consumer choice. Retail choice is an important area which requires further understanding as it may be the first choice a consumer makes and may limit the choice of brands and product categories that are available to them at later stages. This study sought primarily to enquire whether consumer behavior analysis at the retail level is possible and appropriate, and then to explore the patterns observed both in isolation and in comparison to earlier brand and subcategory level studies. The study utilized a large dataset of approximately 1500 consumers over 52 weeks. The early results were promising suggesting a consumer behavior analysis view of retail choice is relevant and should be explored further. |
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| How Children Come to Learn in New Ways |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 2:30 PM–3:20 PM |
| SHB (Olympia) |
| Chair: Ingunn Sandaker (Akershus University College) |
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| How Children Come to Learn in New Ways |
| R. DOUGLAS GREER (Columbia University Teacher's College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences) |
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| Abstract: There are three ways in which children learn and can be taught—direct contact or indirect contact with contingencies, and incidentally. The relation of the elementary principles to learning differs from their relation to performance-- a distinction grounded in the difference between The Behavior of Organisms and The Science and Technology of Teaching. In Skinner’s work on teaching and learning the “frame” and its extension, the learn unit, consists of the student directly contacting the contingencies of reinforcement and corrections to instructional presentations that lead to the formation of new operants. However, such contact is found infrequently in most educational settings. How do they learn? Several experiments have found that learning by indirect or observational contact is a developmental cusp and new learning capability--capability is based on certain prior experiences. In addition, much leaning occurs without even indirect contact with the contingencies (i.e., incidental language learning), a phenomenon that led some linguists to argue that the basic principles of behavior could not explain this phenomenon because “there was a poverty of stimuli”. Research leading to the induction of the process whereby children come to learn language incidentally has identified how incidental language learning is, in fact, related to the basic principles. Both indirect and incidental learning are themselves environmentally induced developmental cusps and new learning capabilities anchored to the basic principles of behavior.
Dr. R. Douglas Greer is Professor of Education and Psychology and Coordinator of the Programs in Applied Behavior Analysis; he has taught at Columbia University Teachers College and Graduate School of the Arts and Sciences for 40 years, sponsored 143 PhD dissertations, taught over 2,000 master students, founded the Fred S. Keller School, authored 13 books and 150 research and conceptual papers, served on the editorial board of 10 journals, and developed the CABAS® school model. He has received the American Psychology Association’s Fred S. Keller Award for Distinguished Contributions to Education, the award for the International Dissemination of Behavior Analysis by the Association for Behavior Analysis International, Distinguished Contributions to The Fred S. Keller School by Applied Behavior Analysis Incorporated, and May 5 as the R. Douglas Greer Day by the Westchester County Legislature. Greer is a Fellow of the Association for Behavior Analysis International. He has lectured at the universities of Almeria, Grenada, Cadiz, Oviedo, and Salamanca (in Spain), Oslo Norway Askerhaus College, University of Ibidan in Nigeria, and University of Wales at Bangor. Greer has served as the keynote speaker at the European Association for Behavior Analysis Conference, the National Conferences on Behavior Analysis in Ireland, Israel, Korea, Spain, Italy, Norway, and in several states in the USA. |
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| Verbal Behavior Paper Session 1 |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 4:00 PM–5:20 PM |
| Vampyr |
| Area: VBC |
| Chair: Genae Hall (Behavior Analysis & Intervention Services) |
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| The Value of Verbal Protocol Analysis to Investigate the Expert's Problem Solving Strategies |
| Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| VANISE GOULART ZIMMER (University of São Paulo) |
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| Abstract: This article presents the results of a behavioral research conducted in one of the biggest private Brazilian financial institutions. The research was undertaken to gain a better understanding of the portfolio manager's decision making process. The Verbal Protocol Analysis revealed that the principal managers’ tasks are i) asset price evaluation, ii) investment return prevision, iii) risk estimation and iv) future markets performance forecasts followed by an assessment of the impact for the financial assets. We studied the investment experts when they verbalize their own thoughts during decision making in natural situations. The decisions are based on information analysis, problem construction, forecasts of future events, as well as elaboration of strategies that culminated in a concrete or potential investment action. The study showed that the managers base their hypotheses, strategies and conclusions on dynamic mental models rather than on static mental representations of capital market. We also observed that they use as principal cognitive resources inductive and abductive logical reasoning even when using numerical estimations: The produced hypotheses and strategies were constructed by abduction and then analyzed by induction with the aim to minimize task constraints. All decisions included some sort of uncertainty caused either by the information available, the market data, or the decisions’ cognitive boundaries. |
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| Verbal Operants in Context: Controlling and Mediating Verbal Relations as Superordinate Functional Categories |
| Domain: Theory |
| GENAE HALL (Behavior Analysis and Intervention Services), Robert G. Vreeland (Behavior Analysis and Intervention Services) |
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| Abstract: In applied behavior analysis, the function of behavior is described in terms of its antecedents and consequences. Antecedents include motivating operations and discriminative stimuli, and consequences include the onset or offset of tangible, social, and sensory stimuli. Behaviors are often considered functionally equivalent if they are evoked by some of the same antecedents and maintained by the same types of consequences.
Skinner's book Verbal Behavior (1957) describes a number of verbal operants including mands, tacts, intraverbals, duplics, and codics. Although these operants are presented as functionally distinct, it appears that in fact each may yield different types of consequences under varying conditions, and serve either a "controlling" or "mediating" function. Mands frequently serve a controlling function (i.e., “work mainly for the benefit of the speaker”) and the other verbal operants often serve a mediating function (i.e., “work mainly for the benefit of the listener”), but mands may also be mediating at times, and the other verbal operants may be controlling. To fully specify the function of a verbal relation, it therefore appears necessary to identify not only the type of verbal operant, but whether it is controlling or mediating. |
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| Verbal Operants in Context: Identifying and Classifying Verbal Units Within Ongoing Conversation |
| Domain: Experimental Analysis |
| ROBERT G. VREELAND (Behavior Analysis and Intervention Services), Genae Hall (Behavior Analysis and Intervention Services) |
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| Abstract: Hall (2005) first suggested that Skinner’s (1957) classification of verbal operants may not yield functionally distinct categories. Both “mander” and “mediater” relations were, under certain conditions, found to be possible in all the verbal operants. Hall and Vreeland (2007) proposed that these relations should be termed “controlling” and “mediating” verbal relations, and that their presence in all of the verbal operants may at least partly account for the perceived difficulty in reliably identifying verbal operants in complex utterances (Salzinger, 1991; Donahoe & Palmer, 1994). In a preliminary study utilizing both transcripts and video recordings of conversations, Hall and Vreeland found high reliability for identifying verbal units as well as classifying them as either controlling or mediating relations. The present paper reports on a replication of the Hall and Vreeland (2007) study. The authors discuss the benefits of using both video recordings, which contain autoclitic information and the transcripts of the verbal content, and allowing scorers repeated access to both data sources. While “controlling” and “mediating” relations are superordinate functional categories, the authors also discuss the possibility that this methodology may be useful in reliably identifying Skinner’s (1957) fundamental verbal operants. |
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| Listening and Auditory Imagining |
| Domain: Theory |
| HANK SCHLINGER (California State University, Los Angeles) |
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| Abstract: In this paper, I tackle the thorny problem of auditory perception from a behavior-analytic perspective. I first distinguish between sensation (as sensory transduction) and perception (as behaviors under stimulus control). I then contend that auditory perception, that is, listening, involves very subtle vocal behaviors and, moreover, that when we report imagining music or voices, we don’t really hear previously heard music or voices (cognitivists would call them representations), but rather are responding verbally to our own subvocal behaviors (self-singing and self-talking). I propose that behavior analysts can revive a modified form of introspection, carefully constrained by the principle of parsimony, as a tool in their efforts to understand these otherwise unobservable behaviors. Finally, I report on the results from a variety of brain imaging studies, which support my contention that listening and auditory imagining involve subvocal behaviors. I briefly discuss the implications of this analysis for visual perception and imagining. |
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| Experimental Analysis of Behavior Paper Session 3 |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 4:00 PM–5:20 PM |
| Base 1 |
| Chair: Jeffrey N. Weatherly (University of North Dakota) |
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| The Behavior Analysis of Gambling: How Do Confederates Influence Participants' Play in a Laboratory Setting? |
| Domain: Experimental Analysis |
| JEFFREY N. WEATHERLY (University of North Dakota), Casey Lee McDougall (University of North Dakota), Ellen Meier (Uninversity of North Dakota) |
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| Abstract: Long-standing behavior-analytic theories of gambling focused on contingency-based factors such as ratio schedules of reinforcement. More recently, behavior analysts have increasingly focused on rule-governed behavior to explain continued gambling. Along other lines, our laboratory has conducted a series of experiments in which participants gamble money on slot machines or blackjack. Across sessions, they do so either in the presence or absence of a confederate and, when a confederate is present, we have manipulated the confederate's behavior (e.g., staying or leaving; betting large or small amounts; winning or losing). Results from these studies have demonstrated that participants' gambling is systematically altered by the presence and behavior of a confederate. These results suggest that contextual cues, such as other gamblers serving as discriminative stimuli, need to be considered within a behavior-analytic account for gambling. Possibilities for how other gamblers come to serve in this capacity will be discussed. |
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| Learning of “yes” and “no” autoclitics with conditional discriminations: Effects of symmetry and equivalence |
| Domain: Experimental Analysis |
| LUIS A. PEREZ-GONZALEZ (University of Oviedo, Spain), Blanca Antuna-Cerredo (University of Oviedo, Spain), Seline Perrin (University of Oviedo, Spain) |
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| Abstract: Ten 8-year-old normally developed children learned several conditional discriminations and were tested for emergent relations with the purpose of studying variables involved in learning and generalization of “yes” and “no” responding. First, they learned two conditional discriminations AB and PQ (e.g., relating A1 to B1 and A2 to B2, and relating P1 to Q1 and P2 to Q2). Then, they learned a conditional discrimination ABX in which an A and a B stimuli formed a compound sample and two novel stimuli X1 and X2 were the comparisons. Selections of X1 (“yes”) were reinforced when the two stimuli in the sample had been related in AB (e.g., A1 and B1) and selections of X2 (“no”) were reinforced when the two stimuli had not been related (e.g., A1 and B2). Finally, children received a transfer probe that would demonstrate generalized “yes” and “no” responding: a P and a Q stimuli formed the sample and X1 and X2 were the comparisons. Only one child demonstrated generalization with this procedure. Other children learned the ABX relation or demonstrated generalization after receiving BA and QP symmetry probes. Yet other children did so only after receiving additional teaching with novel stimuli C that allow testing the equivalence with the A, B, and C stimuli. These results indicate that symmetrical and equivalence relations among the stimuli with which the “yes” and “no” responses are taught play an important role in learning and generalization of these relations. |
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| Autobiographical memory and future expectations in a sub-clinically depressed population using the IRAP. |
| Domain: Experimental Analysis |
| LIV KOSNES (University of Wales Swansea), Louise A. McHugh (University of Wales Swansea), Jo Saunders (Swansea University), Robert Whelan (University College Dublin) |
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| Abstract: Reduced positive expectancies and a lack of specificity in describing past events have been linked to depression. The current study compared the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (FT-IRAP), an implicit measure of positive and negative future thinking, and the Autobiographical Memory Task (ATM), the presentation of positive and negative cues to measure Autobiographical Memory Specificity (AMS). 40 undergraduate volunteers participated. Participants were grouped as high or low depressed based on their Beck Depression Inventory scores. The FT-IRAP results indicated that the high depressed group paired themselves with negative future expectancies and less with positive future expectancies when compared to the low depressed group. While on the AMT the high depressed group indicated reduced AMS in response to the AMT cues. The results suggest a link between increased negative future expectancies/ decreased positive future expectancies and an overgeneral autobiographical memory. The findings are discussed in terms of how future expectancies might necessitate the retrieval of overgeneral autobiographical memories. |
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| Historical and Future Trends for Behavior Analysis in Europe |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 4:00 PM–5:20 PM |
| Salome |
| Area: TPC; Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| Chair: Erik Arntzen (Akershus University College) |
| ERIK ARNTZEN (Akershus University College) |
| JOHN CARL HUGHES (Bangor University, Wales) |
| RICARDO PELLON (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia) |
| PAOLO MODERATO (IULM University ITALY) |
| Abstract: Participants in the panel will discuss historical, current, and future issues with respect to behavior analysis in Europe, including the inception, dissemination strategies, conferences, and teaching programmes. We will comment on the position of applied behavior analysis, experimental behavior analysis, and conceptual behavior analysis in Europe, and the impact of new trends with empirical supported treatments emanating from behavior analysis. Finally, we will discuss challenges and opportunities for behavior analysis in Europe in the future. |
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| Organizational Behavior Management Paper Session 1 |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 4:00 PM–4:50 PM |
| Madonna |
| Chair: Linda Ross (The Cobalt Group) |
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| Improving Telesales Call Center Quality Performance Using IOR Methodology |
| Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| LINDA ROSS (Independent Consultant) |
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| Abstract: When observing telesales call center performance, at least five sources of error can affect the accuracy of observations. Because any of these sources of error, or a combination of them, might be present when observing telesales performance, inter-observer reliability (IOR) was introduced to ensure calibration among observers. Telesales supervisors met weekly to develop IOR between supervisors and the quality assurance (QA) team in scoring telesales agents’ calls using a standardized form. Over the course of a four-week period, IOR estimates fluctuated from as low as 20% to as high as 85%. IOR estimates were below the target growth trend line for the last four call samples analyzed, albeit by only a small percentage on the last calls monitored. Supervisors tended to have higher agreement scores on stronger calls; those where the items are mostly scored as Y or N/A, when compared to calls that were missing several of the key quality attributes. Further calibration sessions and refinement of the definition document that accompanied the standardized QA form also contributed to tighter calibration and higher IOR over time. Overall, the results suggested that IOR methodology can be very effective in calibrating observational performance between supervisors and QA teams in call centers. |
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| Translating behavioral terminology: Accomplishments and challenges |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 4:00 PM–5:20 PM |
| 301 |
| Domain: Theory |
| Chair: Michael Keenan (University of Ulster) |
| Discussant: Philip N. Chase (Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies) |
| Abstract: Behavior analysis is rapidly growing in countries where the major part of teaching the science proceeds in native languages other than English.
To communicate effectively, promote BA and reduce misconceptions, correct and consistent translations have to be made. With its empirical base, precise terminology is vital for BA scientists. Accurate definitions can also empower professionals to express technical terms comprehensibly in ordinary speech when providing their services.
Skilled behavior analysts are arguably best suited for translating our highly specific vocabulary, regardless of computerized translations being prevalent in the nearest future or not. However, various external issues can affect such an undertaking. They can be legal as regulations on exclusively employing professional translators within the publication sector. They can also be morphologic due to grammatical complexity, and neologism of the language being translated into.
Regardless, a centralized bank on BA terms and concepts with definitions, containing translation dictionaries in diverse languages, could give a general survey of BA terminology and update and coordinate its usage. In addition it could serve as a formal source, behavior analysts and any other concerned parties could refer to for consultation and approved translations.
Behavior analysts of three different countries will share their experiences in an effort to promote action to raise attention on this neglected subject and to join efforts for a collaborative international enterprise. |
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| Fading is not “ombreggiare” (shading): setting conditions for a verbal community for BA in Italy |
| GIOVAMBATTISTA PRESTI (IULM University, Milan; IESCUM, ABA Italian Chapter), Paolo Moderato (IULM University ITALY) |
| Abstract: Some of the milestone books in BA have been published in Italian since the mid seventies when BA was slowly introduced in Italy. However in many of them, the Italian language and prosody reflect an incomplete knowledge and misunderstanding on the nature of BA philosophy of science and practice.
Over the years a technical jargon has been shaped within the Italian BA community, but never “fixed” on paper. Thus many conceptual and historical errors persist in the common and scientific vocabulary of the larger Psychology verbal community. Leveraging on the educational, communication and editorial activities promoted in Italy by IESCUM (ABAI Italian chapter) in these last years a group of contributors joint collectively to work on a dictionary of BA terms in Italian. An online wiki-like tool was deployed to help the group. Choices of words and expressions inserted in the glossary reflect the various publications and educational activities. They were progressively added as they appeared on various works. An analysis of this activity, in terms of efforts, number of terms results and plans to spread the use of the tool will be discussed. |
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| An attempt to develop a tool helpful in using consistent and proper behavioral terminology in Poland |
| MONIKA M. SUCHOWIERSKA (Warsaw School of Social Psychology), Pawel Ostaszewski (Faculty of Psychology, Warsaw University), Rafal J. Kawa (University of Warsaw), Wojciech Bialaszek (Faculty of Psychology, Warsaw University), Agnieszka Aksamit-Ramotowska (Center for Early Intervention Step by Step, Polish), Gosia Bochenska (Centrum Wczesnej Interwencji "Krok po Kroku" Warszawa) |
| Abstract: An initiative to create a glossary of behavior analytic terms in Polish was undertaken in January 2007. Several members of the Polish ABA formed a task group and started by selecting sources of behavioral terms in English. We chose glossaries from the following books: “Behavior analysis and learning” by Pierce and Epling (1999), “Learning” by Catania (1998), “Learning and behavior” by Mazur (1998), and “Behaviorspeak” by Newman (2003). We also used terms from the “Glossary of Some Terms Used in the Objective Science of Behavior” by Verplanck as well as terms listed in the Third Edition of the Task List prepared by the Behavior Analysis Certification Board. From these sources a list of 1440 terms was compiled. Out of these, over 600 terms were removed. The terms that we removed were: 1) general psychology terms, 2) terms relating to specific tests, 3) terms not related to behavior analysis, 4) repetitions, 5) everyday terms, and 6) terms relating to proper nouns. Each member of the task group translated approximately one hundred terms from English into Polish. Once the individual translations were done, we were meeting approximately once a month over the next year to discuss the translation of each term in a group and decide on the final translation. In October 2008, the task group started translating the definitions. We plan to have the glossary completed by the end of 2009. Major challenges include: laboriousness of the translating process, necessity to go to original sources to be able to translate correctly, lack of funds, uneven motivation. |
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| To whisper a prompt |
| GUDRIDUR ADDA RAGNARSDOTTIR (Behavior Analysis and Teaching Consultation, Reykj), Ingi Jón Hauksson (Bugl -Child Psychitry Unit Department, University), Kristin Gudmundsdottir (University of Akureyri), KristjÁn Gudmundsson (Kvennaskóli college, Reykjav&íacute;k), Thorlakur Karlsson (Reykjav&íacute;k University) |
| Abstract: In Iceland with its 300.000 inhabitants there is an official state policy on preserving and enriching the Icelandic language. Thus, and in order to promote behavior analysis, ICE-ABA has worked on translations of behavior analytic terms, and plans to publish them on its website www.atferli.is with descriptions and an adjunct wiki. They will also be published in an electronic dictionary of the Icelandic Language Institute.
Our basic source and design layout stems from Daniel Bostow at the University of South Florida, in addition to available glossaries and translations already made.
A translation process implies more than just substituting one word for another. The meaning of the technical term must be unequivocal, and when an agreement has been reached about its connotation, the term can be given an Icelandic "name" if there is one already in the vocabulary. Otherwise new words have to be created according to rules of Icelandic grammar.
The presentation will describe and give examples of this work, its accomplishments as well as challenges, and the questions still left to answer. We hope our experience will be valuable to those who consider translations that will enable them to think and speak about their science and profession in their native tongue. |
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| Closing Event |
| Sunday, August 9, 2009 |
| 5:30 PM–6:30 PM |
| North 121 A |
| Panelists: |
| Abstract: Join us in celebrating attendees' accomplishments during the conference. Presenters will conclude with a few observations on the continued international development of behavior analysis. |
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