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| Doreen Granpeesheh Speaker Series for the Interdisciplinary Approach to the Treatment of Autism: Toward ABA Leadership in the Science of Profound Autism: Challenges and Opportunities |
| Saturday, May 24, 2025 |
| 10:00 AM–10:50 AM |
| Marriott Marquis, M2 Level, Marquis Salon 1-5 |
| đź“ş Streaming Status: session is complete - recording is pending |
| Area: AUT; Domain: Service Delivery |
| Chair: Doreen Granpeesheh (Center for Autism and Related Disorders) |
| CE Instructor: Doreen Granpeesheh, Ph.D. |
| Presenting Author: AMI KLIN (Marcus Autism Center; Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta; Emory University School
of Medicine) |
| Abstract: Children, adolescents and adults with autism accompanied by moderate to profound intellectual disabilities, or “profound autism”, have been severely under-represented in autism research and science. In response, federal and private grant-making agencies are now prioritizing this community, with a focus on clinical genetics/genomics, neuroscience and clinical trials. For decades, ABA science and practice have been at the forefront of clinical services for individuals with profound autism. Unfortunately, the new aspired science and the longstanding ABA expertise and achievements are disconnected, each depriving the other of the mutual benefits that could result from greater collaborations and synergies. ABA has always been the science of directly observable behavior. And yet, integration of root causes (e.g., genetics/genomics, neuroscience, contextual stressors), developmental factors (e.g., early brain development and how autism emerges over time), and biomarker-based measurements (e.g., objective and quantitative assays of a child’s clinical state and skills) have the potential of making ABA treatments more effective, less costly, more sustainable, and more accessible. While the new science of profound autism will fail to achieve clinical impact without the ABA community, the ABA community will not lead this revolution if it does not allow for evolution of its concepts, measurement methods, and models of training and clinical practice. In the absence of this dialogue, the major victims will be the families we all serve. |
| Instruction Level: Basic |
| Target Audience: ABA practitioners |
Learning Objectives: 1. Participants will recognize the early symptoms of autism, the foundations of early identification, diagnosis and treatment, their potential to optimize lifetime outcomes, the real-world crisis in access to these services, and the consequences thereof in fueling stark healthcare disparities.
2. Participants will learn about new advances capitalizing on eye-tracking research of early social development to generate cost-effective and community-viable solutions to increase access to early detection and diagnosis, and to reduce clinician burden in measurement and documentation of positive treatment response necessary for authorization and re-authorization of services.
3. Participants will learn about EarliPoint, an objective, standardized, quantitative, and cost-effective tool for the early diagnosis and assessment of autism, including the clinical validation data that led to its FDA clearance for broad use in the community, and its potential for making diagnostics and treatment services more efficient, accessible and sustainable, while maintaining high quality of services. |
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| AMI KLIN (Marcus Autism Center; Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta; Emory University School
of Medicine) |
 Ami Klin, Ph.D. is the Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, The Bernie Marcus Distinguished Chair
in Autism, Professor and Chief of the Division of Autism and Developmental Health at Emory University
School of Medicine, and Director of the Marcus Autism Center, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. He
obtained his Ph.D. from the University of London (Medical Research Council, Cognitive Development
Unit), and completed clinical and research post-doctoral fellowships at the Yale Scholl of Medicine. He
directed the Autism Program at the Yale Child Study Center until 2010, where he was the Harris Professor
of Child Psychology & Psychiatry. The Marcus Autism Center is one of the largest centers of clinical care
for children with autism and their families in the country, providing a broad range of diagnostic and
treatment services, and it is also a large program of science, with research ranging from
genetics/genomics and developmental social neuroscience, to clinical trials and implementation science.
Dr. Klin’s primary research activities focus on social mind and social brain, and on developmental aspects
of autism from infancy through adulthood. He is the author of over 250 publications in the field of autism
and related conditions. |
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| CANCELLED: Racial Prejudice as Relational Responding: Experimental Research and Possibilities of Intervention |
| Saturday, May 24, 2025 |
| 10:00 AM–10:50 AM |
| Marriott Marquis, M2 Level, Marquis Salon 6 |
| Area: SCI; Domain: Applied Research |
| CE Instructor: Julio De Rose, Ph.D. |
| Presenting Author: JULIO DE ROSE (Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos) |
| Abstract: Racial prejudice is a challenging social issue and behavior analysis has much to contribute to its investigation and to the development of interventions to mitigate prejudice. One of the central aspects of prejudice is relational responding linking racial groups with negative attributes. This presentation will describe an ongoing series of studies conducted with children who pre-experimentally tended to relate Black faces to a negative symbol and showed negative evaluations of Black faces, compared to White faces, in a Likert scale. These studies used relational training choosing parameters known to enhance equivalence class formation. Most participants along these studies to equivalence relations between Black faces and a positive symbol, accompanied by increase in valence of the Black faces. Such results were replicated and extended in subsequent studies which refined experimental design, showed maintenance of the results in follow-up assessments and verified the extent to which results generalized to more naturalistic measures. The results so far indicate that relating racial attributes to positively valenced stimuli may be a component of interventions to address racial prejudice. Key words: Racial prejudice; Relational responding; Stimulus equivalence; Transfer of functions |
| Instruction Level: Intermediate |
| Target Audience: Researchers and students interested in the behavioral aspects of prejudice, in experimental research about prejudice and in possibilities of intervention. |
Learning Objectives: 1. Identify behavior principles involved in racial prejudice
2. Describe and discuss experimental procedures to investigate prejudice as well as how to counteract it
3. Identify directions for future development of behavioral research on racial prejudice
4. Identify perspectives for intervention on prejudice. |
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| JULIO DE ROSE (Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos) |
 Ph.D. at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, in 1981, and postdoctoral Fulbright fellow at the Shriver Center for Mental Retardation, in Waltham, MA (1984-6). Currently, Professor of Psychology at the Federal University of São Carlos, Brazil, and Research Director of the Brazilian National Institute of Science and Technology on Behavior, Cognition, and Teaching. Author of nearly 200 articles and chapters on experimental, applied, and conceptual behavior analysis. |
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| Accomplishment Based Performance Improvement and Instruction: A Focus on Valuable Contributions |
| Saturday, May 24, 2025 |
| 3:00 PM–3:50 PM |
| Marriott Marquis, M2 Level, Marquis Salon 1-5 |
| đź“ş Streaming Status: session is complete - recording is pending |
| Area: PRA/OBM; Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: Kent Johnson (Morningside Academy) |
| CE Instructor: Kent Johnson, Ph.D. |
| Presenting Author: CARL BINDER (The Performance Thinking Network, LLC) |
| Abstract: Tom Gilbert encouraged a focus on what he called “valuable accomplishments” rather than on “costly behavior” in analysis and design for performance improvement. Joe Harless, Gilbert’s protégé, introduced ABCD, Accomplishment Based Curriculum Development. This session overviews a next-generation accomplishment-based performance analysis and intervention design methodology called Performance Thinking® with two simple models, 21 plain English words, and an application “logic” for individuals/roles, processes, culture change, and overall accomplishment-based talent development. The session will feature an ABAI application, Kent Johnson’s and the ABAI Task Force's initiative for micro-credentialing, unpacking steps in an analysis and instructional design process to enable learners to produce valuable accomplishments. Examples of micro-credentialing might include modules that enable learners to produce Treatment Plans (or their sub-outputs), Instructional Program Designs, Needs Assessments, Data-based Decisions, or Improved Relationships with Parents. Once identified, these valuable outputs or accomplishments lead to component analysis, identifying behavior elements to be fluent, behavior easily guided by job aids, and prerequisites in learners’ existing repertoires. As an added advantage, accomplishment-based instruction is easier to measure, once we identify outputs with criteria that define “good” instances of each. Simply measured, instruction is successful when learners produce examples of the work outputs that meet criteria. |
| Instruction Level: Basic |
| Target Audience: All conference participants. |
Learning Objectives: 1. Draw the Performance Chain illustrating the units of analysis in performance.
2. Identify six categories of variables or behavior influences that comprise a system.
3. List possible work outputs or accomplishments for micro-credentialing. |
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| CARL BINDER (The Performance Thinking Network, LLC) |
 Dr. Carl Binder is CEO of The Performance Thinking Network, certifying performance consultants and developing leaders and managers worldwide. He studied at Harvard with B.F. Skinner and, as Associate Director of B.H. Barrett’s Behavior Prosthesis Lab during the 1970s, conducted research and implemented Precision Teaching in classrooms, clinics, and multi-disciplinary therapy teams, introducing Precision Teaching to hundreds of teachers during the 1970s, including Dr. Kent Johnson in 1978. Since Ogden Lindsley encouraged him to move into organizational consulting in 1978, Carl has taught performance improvement and fluency-based instruction to non-specialists using plain language and simple models. He has received career awards from the American Psychological Association, the International Society for Performance Improvement, the OBM Network, and the Standard Celeration Society. He lives on Bainbridge Island, near Seattle (USA). Learn about his work at PerformanceThinking.TV, PerformanceThinking.com and Fluency.org. |
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| Maximization Theory Redux: An Economic Account of Instrumental Reinforcement |
| Saturday, May 24, 2025 |
| 4:00 PM–4:50 PM |
| Marriott Marquis, M2 Level, Marquis Salon 1-5 |
| đź“ş Streaming Status: session is complete - recording is pending |
| Area: SCI/EAB; Domain: Basic Research |
| Chair: Jonathan W. Pinkston (University of Kansas) |
| CE Instructor: Jonathan W. Pinkston, Ph.D. |
| Presenting Author: FEDERICO SANABRIA (Arizona State University) |
| Abstract: The Modular Maximization Theory (MMT) is introduced as a comprehensive framework for understanding instrumental behavior. Like earlier maximization theories, MMT posits that behavior is distributed across alternatives to maximize utility over time. This concept is structured through five foundational postulates that define alternatives (e.g., leisure and work) and choice rules as budget constraints and utility functions. A key innovation of MMT is its incorporation of reinforcer utilization—encompassing both consummatory and post-consummatory activities—into the budget-constraint function. A model of ratio-schedule performance is developed under the assumption that utilization is proportional to demand, with utility represented as an additive power function of reinforcer magnitude. This model effectively explains how reinforcer magnitude, response effort, non-contingent reinforcement, and income influence demand curves, behavior-output functions, dose-response relationships, and progressive-ratio breakpoints, while accounting for rate-dependent effects. It also offers novel insights into choice behavior, including concurrent-schedule performance, income dependency, and delay discounting, as well as post-reinforcement pauses and run rates. Variations in budget-constraint and utility functions are proposed as alternative models. Potential theoretical advancements and applications are explored. |
| Instruction Level: Intermediate |
| Target Audience: Masters and doctoral students acquainted with fundamental concepts in behavior analysis |
Learning Objectives: 1. List the premises of Modular Maximization Theory
2. Identify the key contributions of MMT to reinforcement theory
3. Explain how MMT may contribute to solving concrete problems in behavior analysis |
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| FEDERICO SANABRIA (Arizona State University) |
 Dr. Sanabria serves as Professor and Area Head (Behavioral Neuroscience and Comparative Psychology) at the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University (ASU). He previously served as its Director for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging. Dr. Sanabria obtained his Ph.D. from Stony Brook University under the mentorship of the late Howard Rachlin, and was a postdoctoral researcher in ASU under the supervision of Peter Killeen and Janet Neisewander. He currently serves as President of the Society for the Quantitative Analysis of Behavior (SQAB), serving previously in the Executive Boards of the Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (SEAB) and of Division 25 (Behavior Analysis) of the American Psychological Association (APA). Dr. Sanabria serves in multiple Editorial Boards in the field, including the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition; Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economics; Behavioral Neuroscience; among others. He was Associate Editor of the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior and of Learning & Behavior. Dr. Sanabria’s research focuses on fundamental and highly conserved cognitive and behavioral processes governing animal learning and motivation, their involvement in various psychopathologies, and their representation in computational models. His work is reflected in over 70 empirical and theoretical papers and chapters on basic behavioral processes. Dr. Sanabria’s research has been funded by NIH and NSF. |
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 Sustainability for Whom? |
| Sunday, May 25, 2025 |
| 11:00 AM–11:50 AM |
| Marriott Marquis, M2 Level, Marquis Salon 1-5 |
| đź“ş Streaming Status: session is complete - recording is pending |
| Area: CSS/CSS; Domain: Theory |
| Chair: Kathryn M. Roose (Unaffiliated) |
| CE Instructor: Kathryn M. Roose, Ph.D. |
| Presenting Author: EMMANUEL Z. TOURINHO (Universidade Federal do Para / Federal University of Para) |
| Abstract: Sustainable development is an aspiration of global interest, based on the (late but broad) understanding that the living and consumption patterns practiced by many societies have promoted the destruction of biomes, global warming, the risk of depletion of energy and food sources, and the compromise of living conditions on all continents. There is consensus in various institutional environments about the necessary concern for the sustainability of public policies, production systems, and management systems for the multiple dimensions of daily life. However, such understanding shelter cultural practices whose consequences are sometimes negative for different social groups and for the conservation of biomes. Work in culturo-behavior science can contribute to evaluating such experiences and designing more effective sustainability practices with some chance of success in facing current challenges. |
| Instruction Level: Basic |
| Target Audience: Basic |
Learning Objectives: 1. Describe some sustainable development goals.
2. Identify circumstances in which clean/renewable energy may not meet sustainability goals.
3. Identify some possible contributions of culturo-behavior science to the analysis of sustainability issues. |
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| EMMANUEL Z. TOURINHO (Universidade Federal do Para / Federal University of Para) |
 Emmanuel Zagury Tourinho is a Full Professor at the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), Brazil, working in the Graduate Program in Behavioral Theory and Research. He holds a PhD in Psychology (Experimental Psychology) at the University of São Paulo (1994). His research work is in the field of cultural selection, with special interest in the concurrency between operant contingencies and metacontingencies, ethical self-control, and cultural self-control. He is also interested in the analysis of complex cultural issues with the conceptual tools of behavior science. |
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