Association for Behavior Analysis International

We examined whether a stimulus equivalence relation emerges with olfactory stimuli after two sets of naming training, and whether the training facilitates "olfactory hallucination."Six undergraduate students with low pre-test scores were selected. Percentage of correct responses corresponding olfactory stimuli (aroma scent) to visual stimuli (aroma materials pictures) and mean intensity rating to olfactory stimuli.The experiment was conducted in an enclosed ventilated space.Each olfactory stimulus was presented to the participant using blotter cards. Three aroma fragrances were used as training stimuli. Control stimuli included three other aroma fragrances and a blotter card without a fragrance (non-scent). During the post-test, two training and control stimuli were replaced with non-scent stimuli. Participants were trained to name the stimuli scent and the aroma materials photos, until achieving 100% accuracy for two consecutive blocks. The participants' post-test scores for the trained stimuli exceeded their pre-test scores; three participants' scores were either low or unstable. Four participants responded that they could smell the scent in the post-test non-scent stimuli.

Taekwondo is a traditional martial art that is currently an official Olympic sport. In martial arts, a recombinative repertoire is indispensable, especially regarding competitive contexts. Recombinative repertoires involve the emergence of new combinations of previously learned units. The present study had the objective of investigating the effect of teaching single strikes and sequences of Taekwondo strikes on performance in simulated sparring. It is a systematic replication of a previous research on Karate-do. Participants were young adults with no previous experience in martial arts and the procedure involved training and testing (sparring simulation) Taekwondo attacks. A mixed experimental design was used, in which participants were exposed to a sequence of training and testing that composed two conditions. In the unit condition participants were taught four single strikes and, in the sequence condition, four sequences of three strikes. Results showed that the teaching procedure involving the use of shaping, observational learning and instruction techniques was sufficient to teach the programmed skills in up to 4 h of training. In sparring, the occurrence of taught and new, single and in sequence attacks was observed. New sequences were mainly combinations of taught attacks. Results were discussed based on previous studies on recombination learning and methodological refinements were proposed.

The present study investigated the effects of the formation of equivalence classes and of the kind of stimuli composition on the behavior of following trained instructions (dictated pseudo-sentences or abstract symbols) and new instructions composed of the recombination of elements of training stimuli. Twelve undergraduate students were divided in three groups (n=4), each group assigned to one of three conditions, that differed in the kind of composition of training stimuli, according to a 6x6 matrix (six actions and six non-familiar objects): (1) diagonal: training stimuli with and without overlapping between elements (action and objects); (2) stepwise: overlapping between both elements of training stimuli; (3) edgewise: overlapping between one action and all objects, and one object with all actions. All participants were exposed to pre-test, three cycles of training and testing, and post-test. Four stimuli were trained in the first two cycles, three were trained in the third, and there were tests with two recombined stimuli in all cycles. In each cycle participants were exposed to conditional discriminations between pseudo-sentences and videos of action in relation to objects (AB), and between pseudo-sentences and abstract symbols (AC), equivalence tests (BC and CB), instruction-following tests with pseudo-sentences (AD) and abstract symbols (CD), imitation tests (BD), recombined instructions following (AD-r e CD-r), and recombinative-generalization tests (AB-r and AC-r). Equivalence class formation was observed in all conditions, and scores above 80% were observed in post-tests with training and recombined stimuli, except for two participants (diagonal and edgewise). Most participants were able to follow instructions composed of trained pseudo-sentences and abstract symbols, though participants from diagonal and edgewise conditions showed lower scores in cycle 1. Participants from diagonal condition were able to follow recombined instructions in cycle 2, when overlapping between elements of stimuli was introduced. One participant from edgewise condition showed similar results, while another participant showed low scores in all cycles. Stepwise condition participants showed recombinative repertoire from cycle 1. These findings show the effect of the amount of trained stimuli and of overlapping training stimuli from the beginning of training on recombined instruction following repertoire.

Many studies that have investigated performance under given reinforcement schedules have measured response rate or inter-response time (IRT), which reflect the time dimensions of response. While these are useful indices to analyze the effects of reinforcement schedules on responses, only a few studies have investigated spatial dimensions under reinforcement schedules. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the effects of fixed-interval (FI) schedules on spatial dimensions. The measures of spatial dimensions were location of pecking response and the inter-response distance (IRD), which was the straight line between the locations of successive two responses. A circular response area of 22 cm in diameter was used so that the pecking responses were effective over a wide range. Pigeons were exposed to continuous reinforcement (CRF) and FI schedules. Results indicated that the response location spread during the transition from a CRF to an FI schedule. Additionally, the distribution of IRDs for the FI schedule was unimodal. These results indicate the possibility that FI schedules systematically control the spatial dimensions of response.

Human and nonhuman animals show position biases in choosing an item among others. This has been recognized for a long time in many fields of behavior sciences. For example, in a two-choice setting, this bias is reflected as the parameter "b" in the generalized matching law. We surveyed a position bias in choosing cards on the street of two big cities in Japan. An experimenter presented 10 cards in reverse to each of 453 passersby and asked them to pick either one (Group Solo, n = 222) or three (Group Trio, n = 231) from the cards. For Group Solo, the second and then third choices were also requested after the first choice. Inspection of the distribution of the selected cards among the 10 positions revealed the following tendencies: (1) The peak of first-choice distribution was the 6th card from the left in Group Solo, while it was the 4th card in Group Trio; (2) The distribution of second-choice was flatter for Group Solo than Group Trio; (3) The distribution of third-choice had three peaks (the 2nd, 6th, and 9th positions) in Group Solo, while it had only two peaks (the 2nd and 9th positions) in Group Trio.

Learning a conditional discrimination using matching-to-sample tasks has proved to be influenced by descriptions of performance. It has been supposed that this type of verbal performance enables a participant to answer correctly to transfer tests. Several changes can be introduced to transfer tests to increase their complexity. Verbal descriptions that involve more general rules of correct performance can be responsible for high percentages of correct answers on a transfer test of high complexity. In order to evaluate the effects of descriptions on performance during transfer tests of different degree of complexity, 16 college students were exposed to an instrumental training using a second-order matching-to-sample task. Only participants who learned the conditional discrimination were exposed to four transfer tests. Half of the participants were asked to answer using a verbal description; the rest used a non-verbal instrumental response. Transfer tests were sequenced in two opposite orders: from simple to complex and from complex to simple. Data showed an interaction effect between descriptions and the sequence of transfer tests. This suggests that performance on generalization contexts depends not only of abstract verbal responses but also of the type of learning that is elicited trough the changes on contexts.

Time-dependent increases in cue-induced sucrose-seeking after forced abstinence have been described in rats with a history of sucrose self-administration, suggesting sucrose craving "incubates." Usually, in the study of sucrose craving, responding for the secondary reinforcer (cue previously associated with sucrose) was examined but responding for the primary reinforcer (sucrose) was not. The present study examined whether time-dependent increases occur in responding for sucrose pellets. Fourteen male rats lever-pressed for 45 mg sucrose pellets for 10 days. On either day 1 or 30 of forced abstinence of sucrose, rats responded for 30 min for sucrose pellets (consumption test). Rats responded more during the consumption test session following 30 vs. 1 day of forced abstinence ("incubation of sugar consumption"). Within-session decreases in responding during the consumption test session were also analyzed. Rats in the day 30 group responded more than rats in the day 1 group at the beginning of the test session. However, within-session decreases in responding were similar between the two groups. These results indicate that "incubation of sugar consumption" does not enhance the persistence of sugar consumption.

Four rats responded to concurrent variable-ratio extinction schedule. Their schedule positions were randomly switched after 2s blackout following reinforcement delivery. Half of the subjects’ exposed ratio sizes were manipulated increasingly at 8 s, 16 s, 48 s. The other half of subjects were decreased at 32 s, 16 s, 4 s. On the whole, responses perseverate to just reinforced level during a brief period, even if a light cue signaled next reinforcer would be delivered at different located lever. There are two explanations: (1) strength account that, stimulus control of light being inept, reinforcer strengthened responses on which it is contingent; (2) induction account that the correlation between the phylogenetically important event (PIE) like food delivery and the lever press that produced it makes pressing that lever a PIE-related activity. The occurrence of PIE induces PIE-related activities (Baum, 2012). In this presentation, we explain that both account make a different prediction in relation between reinforcer density and response frequency, and show which account is supported by data.

We investigated the effect of non-alcoholic beer on performance of the go/no-go task when the participants were told that the drink did not contain alcohol. The participants were undergraduate students who drank beer at least once per month. Therefore, the taste, smell and sight of beer are expected to be associated with alcohol. The participants in the non-alcoholic beer group drank non-alcoholic beer. The participants in the water group drank water. The participants in the non-alcoholic beer group were told that the drink was alcohol-free. Then, they performed the go/no-go task. In experiment 1, the number of false alarms was smaller in the non-alcoholic beer group than in the water group. This result suggested that alcohol CS induced a conditioned compensatory response. However, in experiment 2, the number of false alarms was larger in the non-alcoholic beer group than in the water group. This result suggested that alcohol CS induced a normal conditioned response. In both experiments, the number of false alarms correlated with the age and subjective intoxication in the non-alcoholic beer group. These results suggest that alcohol CS impairs inhibitory responses in some people.

Ten children (ages 6-11) were trained with arbitrary A-C relation of unfamiliar figures with three different methods: (1) direct training with matching to sample (MTS), (2) verbal instruction with a graphical illustration and nicknames, (3) emerged A-C relation as a transitivity relation by the equivalence relations which was trained with MTS. After they acquired the original stimulus relation (A-C) completely, they were trained with a new stimulus relation (A-C') with MTS. The sensitivity for the new contingency was measured by the number of trials needed to reach the criterion and the number of errors they made before reaching the criterion. Mochizuki (2007) showed university students easily learned the new relation when they had learned the first relation using direct MTS training and equivalence relation but they needed many more trials to learn the new relation when they had been taught the first relation by verbal instruction.The experiment with children showed some different results: (1) Some children showed good performance in verbal instruction. They acquired the new relation with smaller number of trials than who learned the first relation by direct MTS training. (2) Some children could not acquire transitivity relation in the first training.

Our previous study showed that chicks' key-peck responses reinforced by an imprinted stimulus persisted as long as the responses were under a two-component chain schedule involving an imprinted stimulus and food. The present study investigated the effect of the two-component chain schedule on chicks' operant responses under a simple schedule. The subjects were three chicks. After imprinting to a moving cylinder, the chicks' key-peck responses were shaped using the stimulus as a reinforcer. Then they received operant sessions based on ABAB design. In baseline sessions, the key-peck responses were reinforced by the imprinted stimulus under CRF. In intervention sessions, a two-component chain schedule was conducted. In the first component, key pecking produced the imprinted stimulus. In the second component, panel pressing produced food. During the second intervention, probe sessions were conducted under CRF in order to examine whether the key-peck responses reinforced by the imprinted stimulus persist without food. The results indicated that chicks' rates of key-peck responses under the two-component chain were higher than those under CRF. Further, the rates of key-peck responses in the probe sessions were higher than those in the baseline sessions. In conclusion, the two-component chain schedule maintains chicks' key-peck responses reinforced by imprinted stimulus.

Many researchers show that humans and some nonhuman animals can acquire complex conceptual behaviors. Discrimination of artificial grammars is an example of such complex behavior. Artificial grammar is a system of rules that generate certain kinds of stimulus sequence ("grammatical sequences'') by finite state automaton. Chomsky and Miller (1958) suggested the strong relation between the artificial grammar and natural language of humans. It is also studied in the context of "song'' learning in songbirds and has been used as an typical task of "implicit learning'' (learning without awareness) in humans. Herbranson & Shimp (2003, 2008) showed that pigeons could discriminate stimulus sequences that were generated two different artificial grammars, but there still remains the question whether a whole structure of the grammar or some small fragments of sequences got stimulus control on pigeons' behavior. We adopted new generating rules to discern the factor which control the discriminative operant, and are running some comparative experiments with human and pigeons. In this poster presentation, we will report some results of human experiment. University students were showed two sets of color sequence (type-A and type-B, each type contains 43 sequences), and asked to guess A or B. In acquisition phase the correct answers were feedbacked. All participants reached more than 98% of correct classification within a session and they showed 100% of discrimination in a test phase in which they classified novel sets of sequences without feedback.

Generalized imitation is one of the higher order operant class. No or few studies demonstrated generalized imitation in animals. This experiment tried to show generalized imitation in ringneck pigeons. Four and two ringneck pigeons (Streptopelia risoria) were used as follower- and model-pigeons respectively. An experiment chamber contains two compartments separated by a transparent partition; on the front wall in each compartment were two response keys. In each discrete trial, model-pigeons showed pre-trained matching to sample by pecking either of two response keys. Key-peck responses of follower-pigeons were followed by food presentation if its key position was the same as the model's responded key (imitation training). After follower-pigeons showed more than 80% of imitation accuracy for two consecutive sessions, a probe test session was conducted in which model-pigeons showed pre-trained pecking to the red-colored LED and follower-pigeons' behavior was video-recorded (generalized imitation test). At present, two out of four follower-pigeons almost completed the imitation training. In the poster, we will also present the results of next conditions in which imitation responses were trained in color and shape dimensions.

Behavioral variability is controlled by the contingencies of reinforcement and discriminative stimulus. Previous studies have shown the relation between the environment and variable responses (Page & Neuringer, 1998). Organisms behave adaptively to constant variations in their environment through continuous response patterns (Wildemann & Holland, 1972). A continuous repertoire is formed by small differences in responses occurring with regard to stimuli. This study analyzes this continuous repertoire of variability. In this study, the variability of the inter-response distance (IRD) was reinforced on the response key (22.5 cm in diameter). To assess the level of variability, the IRD was divided into 11 bins. Reinforcement depended on a satisfying threshold for each IRD bin. For example, when the relative frequency had a low probability, the variability had a high value. The distance schedule (D) utilized a threshold procedure of controlled distance variability. Pigeons were trained under Mult vary D repeated D schedule. Lines with an angle of 0 degrees and 90 degrees served as discriminative stimuli. In the test, three test stimuli (with angles of 22.5, 45, and 67.5 degrees) were added to two training stimuli. This study analyzed the degree of variability in the IRD and other dimensions from different directions.

In the self-control procedure, introducing a longer delay following the reinforcement of the sooner and smaller amount (impulsive) alternative does not consistently decrease impulsive choice. We extended this delay insensitivity to ratio size after such reinforcement. In experiment 1, four pigeons were exposed to a similar self-control procedure in which the two alternatives were associated with green or red and left or right keys in a three-key operant box. Pecking one of the colors led to the pre-reinforcement (PR) cost requirement, which ended with reinforcement. After then completing the post-reinforcement (PO) cost requirement, the next choice trial started. The SRL alternative consisted of an FR 5 PR cost and an FR 15 PO cost; the LRS alternative consisted of an FR15 PR cost and an FR 5 PO cost. Twenty blocks comprised one session, and each block contained two forced choices and two free choices. All subjects chose the SRL almost exclusively. In experiment 2, three of four pigeons were exposed to the same procedure as in experiment 1 except the PO cost of the SRL was adjusted to the number of chosen alternatives in the free-choice trials. If a subject preferred the SRL to the LRS, PO cost was increased and if the LRS, vice versa. The pigeons preferred the SRL increasing the PO cost was to about 80, 60, and 30 to achieve choice equilibrium.

Delay discounting may be defined as the decrease in the subjective value of an outcome as the time until its occurrence increases (Rachlin, 2006). Because the rewards of academic performance in the university are often delayed, it is predicted that academic performance tends to decrease as a student places less weight on future outcomes. In fact, the previous study showed that college GPA was correlated negatively with discount rates (Kirby, Winston & Santiesteban, 2005). However the study didn't reveal the relationship between delay discounting and their actual study behavior. Therefore, in the present study, we examined the relationship between delay discounting and study behavior. The participants were university students (N=90). We measured the degree of delay discounting with questionnaires. We made participants record the quantity of Chinese characters that they practiced every day for a week, until they actually sat for an examination. In addition, before starting the study, half of the participants were asked to write how many Chinese characters they planned to study for a week (experimental group), while the other half started studying without writing such goal (control group). The result showed that there was no positive correlation between the quantity of study and the degree of delay discounting. Also there was no difference between experimental group and control group. On the other hand, the participants who were absent from the test showed the larger degree of delay discounting than those who presented the test (z=2.07, p<.05). This result suggested that there might be a correlation between attendance/absence behavior and delay discounting.

Establishment of conditioned reinforcers such as praise has sometimes failed in experiments with participants with autism. Despite lack of empirical support, the most recommended method for the conditioning of social stimuli is classical condition (paring). In several experiments, we have compared the effectiveness for establishing conditioned reinforcers in rats: classical conditioning and operant discrimination training. Analysis of the data indicates that earlier discrimination training might have impact on further establishment of discriminative stimuli as conditioned reinforcers. The occurrence of blocking can have impact on the effort to establish conditioned reinforcers. Three preschool children with autism participated in the experiment. First, the children were trained to touch the screen on a net board in the presence of a visual or auditory stimulus. When stimulus control was established, we reinforced touching the screen in presence of compound stimuli. After training we conducted two different tests: 1) whether compound stimuli involved in the discrimination training were blocked, and 2) whether the stimuli functioned as conditioned reinforcers. We discuss how previous discrimination training and blocking can have practical impact in applied settings with children with autism, in attempts to establish discriminative stimuli as conditioned reinforcers, and in complex discrimination tasks with complex stimuli.

The self-control phenomenon has been studied using different procedures, such as delay of gratification and delay discounting, among others. The results obtained by comparing these procedures using rats as experimental subjects suggest that they are functionally equivalent in that they engender similar preference for one of the alternatives. Nevertheless this possibility hasn't been analyzed in human children. The objective of this study was to assess whether the same parameters in both procedures generate similar levels of preference in one of the alternatives. Participants were 10 four-year-old children who were assigned randomly to two groups of five members each. Each group was exposed to one of the self-control procedures. Preference for delayed alternative was similarly observed in both groups, which suggests that these two procedures appear to be equivalent in the amount of self-control they promote. The findings are discussed in terms of the observed similarities between the above procedures.

All operant behaviors have both criterial and noncriterial dimensions, the former being those that must occur in order for the operant to be completed, and the latter consisting of the rest of the physical performance of the operant. Noncriterial aspects of operant behavior are not often measured; however, when they are recorded they can provide valuable data on how participants typically approach the performance of behaviors of the type studied. Furthermore, analysis of quantifiable noncriterial operant dimensions is a powerful way to measure operant variability/stereotypy. In two experiments participants performed operants consisting of a string of keypresses on the computer keyboard: the space bar (marking the start), at least 12 letters from those available, and finally the enter key (marking the end). The required number of keypresses had to occur for each operant to be counted, but which letters were chosen was noncriterial and left up to the participant. In experiment 1, operants were reinforced with money on a VR schedule for 9 sessions, followed by an extinction session. In experiment 2, operants were reinforced with positive feedback stimuli for 9 sessions, followed by a session in which each correct operant not identical to the previous two earned 80 cents. Participants' preferences for individual letters, and patterns of letter keypresses, were in line with previous research on bias in experiments using a keystroke operant; in addition, the variability of the letter patterns emitted varied systematically and predictably both over time and in response to particular stimuli.

Escobar and Perez-Herrera (2015) described the design of an inexpensive electronic interface to control operant-conditioning chambers using USB ports in one computer. An Arduino microcontroller board is connected to the operant chamber and reinforcement schedules are generated using Visual Basic programing. The authors reported that the interface met the requirements of operant research and noted that with minor modifications it can be used to record multiple responses simultaneously. In this poster we describe a modification to the design of the interface that allows using inexpensive photocells consisting of pairs of infrared LEDs and phototransistors to record seven nose poking responses in rats in seven adjacent locations. To record two response dimensions simultaneously, response duration was also recorded. Every response was reinforced using a multiple schedule with reinforcement and extinction components. It was found that variability of response location increased during the extinction component. This finding is congruent with classic studies on response variability. The variability of response duration, however, decreased during extinction. These findings suggest that the Arduino-Visual Basic interface can be used for recording accurately complex response dimensions.

The purpose of this study was to apply a Parental Guidance Behavioral Program in the University Hospital at the University of São Paulo, with an education and therapeutic approach. The behavioral program addressed child and parental behavior towards learning on the "Program de Qualidade de Interacao Familiar" (PCOF; Quality Program for Family Interaction), developed by the researchers at the Federal University of Prana. Parents of children and pre-adolescents (those from 2-11 years old), who were already in behavioral therapy or on a waiting list were invited to participate.An experimental groupand a control group were formedwith couples who agreed to undergo the Behavioral Program Application.

Behavioral architecture is a new interdisciplinary research area where houses are seen as a product of interaction of requirements of residents and environmental factors such as social institutions (e.g., social system of rank in the Edo era). A typical example of the houses produced by these interactions is the traditional urban house of Kyoto (or machiya). The Kyoto machiya has a long history that begins in the Heian period (from 794 to late 12th c). The Kyoto machiya, residence of the city-dweller, was sophisticated and preserved their unique style such as grid, plaster wall, and tile roof. In entering the Edo period (early 17th c.), the style of machiya was established as it now stands. The Kyoto machiya typically is long and narrow, having a narrow frontage facing the street but extending far to the back, for which reason it has been called “eel’s bed.” The style of machiya that combined shop and residence developed with requirements for merchants as well as handicraftsman. With the earth floor leading to the back, the shop space connects to the residential sections such as the kitchen and the sitting room, and links to the backyard garden. I will present a practical example of renovation of the Kyoto machiya (built early in the Sowa era) and the lifestyle of residents of the present day in terms of behavioral architecture.

This session is to present information regarding the process of practicing family-centered positive behavior support for students majoring in early childhood education in Taiwan. Participants in this study are 21 college students (pre-service teachers), 7 children with disabilities, and their families. The process included two phases. The emphasis of first phase is to provide foundational knowledge. The second phase is to implement center-based practical trainings. The students received 36 hours of lectures related to behavioral techniques as well as positive behavior support approach. All students received practical training to strengthen their professional confidence. The Goal Attainment Scaling and self-made checklists have been utilized to ensure the outcomes for each stage of trainings. By the end of this session, participants will gain information about: (a) identifying the importance of providing systematic training and support for potential professionals in the field of early intervention; and (b) understanding the needs of developing family-centered intervention program based on evidence-based practices.

This study examines the effect of interdependent group-oriented contingency intervention on function of disruptive behaviors’ in students with developmental disabilities. Interdependent group-oriented contingency interventions have demonstrated sufficient empirical support to be considered an evidence-based strategy for a variety of applications. Although the procedure for subject selection has been discussed, there is little existing research that describes the function of behavioral problems (Maggin, Johnson, Chafouleas, Ruberto, & Berggren, 2012). The target class had 33 students, two of whom had developmental disabilities, in the fourth grade of an elementary school. Target behaviors, or dependent variables, were on-task behaviors (e.g., standing in queue at the beginning of class) and disruptive behaviors (e.g., interrupting the teacher; outside the classroom only). A functional behavioral assessment was conducted regarding these students’ disruptive behaviors before interdependent group-oriented contingency intervention. The primary functional characteristic of the observed disruptive behaviors was attention. As a result of the interdependent group-oriented contingency intervention in the targeted class, on-task behaviors increased and disruptive behaviors decreased for all students, including for those with disabilities. The results of this study are discussed in terms of the relationship between group-oriented contingency intervention and the function of disruptive behaviors in students with developmental disabilities.

The purpose of this study, based on behavior analysis, was to focus particularly on the victim of bullying behavior, and to explore whether the actions of the victim can be understood in terms of behavior analysis of their physical position. While specific cases have reported the function of bullying behavior by the perpetrator, this study proposes a concrete support method for the behavior of the victim in the development of bullying problems. In this study, we captured the bullying victim's behavior using keywords from case reports as targets in the behavior analysis. As a result, we were able to capture the bullying victim's physical behavior.Bullying victims avoid the social scenes that they perceive as situations where they have been bullied. In addition, it was recognized that whether or not bullying resulted, avoidance behavior falls into a persistent vicious cycle. Future challenges include conducting a behavioral consultation and environmental adjustments to the bullying victim's behavior, and a psychological support program for acquiring alternative actions against the perpetrators that is based onthe examination of bullying behavior and is of good construction and validity.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of Preparation to Adulthood Family Training Program (PAFTP) for adults with special needs on family quality of life. This was investigated by using one group pre-test/post-test design. "Beach Center Family Quality of Life Scale" was given to the participants for testing before and after training. Independent variable of the study is PAFTP and dependent variable of the study is family quality of life. Nine mothers who have an adult son with developmental disability, participated in this study. PAFTP is a family training program which developed by author of this study. PAFTP is an establishment-based program which forms four session and is supported by audio, visual, and written materials. The program involves four topics: 1) adaptation to adulthood, (2) legal rights, (3) overcoming stress, and (4) vocational training and employment. In addition, as part of the program, a handbook/guidebook was prepared for parents by the author. Findings showed that there is no significant difference between pre-test and post-test because family life quality concept is complex and may be accessibility to all environmental factors and personal characteristic. Results of study will be presented.

The purpose of this study was to test the effects of mirror instruction on the participants' perspective-taking while imitating unilateral actions. The study included three kindergarten-aged students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder from a self-contained classroom in a special education school. The dependent variable was the number of correct responses to unilateral actions each participant emitted during the pre- and post-intervention probe sessions when they were face-to-face with the instructor. The independent variable was the implementation of mirror instruction in which the participants were required to imitate unilateral actions with perspective-taking. A delayed multiple probe across participants design was employed to test the effects of mirror instruction on the participants' ability to use perspective-taking while imitating actions. Results indicated that the mirror instruction increased correct perspective taking when the participant imitated unilateral movements.

This study examines the effects of rapid toilet training on three preschool students diagnosed with developmental disabilities. The participants attended a self-contained classroom of a publicly funded private preschool. A time-lagged multiple-baseline design was employed across the participants to identify the functional relationships between dependent and independent variables. The dependent variables were numbers of independent elimination in the toilet, accidents, and independent mands (i.e., self-initiation) emitted per day. The independent variable was the rapid toilet training procedure modified from Azrin and Foxx (1971). During the intervention, the participants went to the bathroom in predetermined intervals and had opportunities to emit mands. They received edible and social reinforcement for successful elimination in the toilet. The result shows that the rapid toilet training procedure significantly reduced the number of accidents and increased independent voiding in the bathroom and mands for toilet use.

The purpose of this study was to investigate what desired behaviors were targeted and how antecedent strategies or consequence strategies were selected in studies addressing individuals with developmental disabilities who engaged problem behaviors in natural settings. We searched single-case practical research based on individual positive behavior support published between 1990 and 2013. Each article that met the criteria for inclusion in the study was scored. We analyzed which type of disabilities participants had, where the interventions were implemented, which behaviors, antecedents, reinforcers of problem behaviors were occurred, which desired behaviors were targeted, which antecedent strategies or consequence strategies were selected in these studies. Results indicated that most targeted desired behaviors were two forms: (1) desired behaviors that the individual should be exhibiting in the problem situation, (2) desired behaviors that individual had acquired in another situation. Though consequence strategies were conducted multiply, all reinforcers were positive. Conducted antecedent strategies were modifying antecedents in the problem situation for former desired behaviors, and prompting for latters. For future research, we should discuss which contingencies of desired behaviors we should select to intervene, and interventions in several situations for the individual with severe problem behaviors occurred.

The ability to perform activities of daily living by oneself leads to a sense of independence. Therefore, it is important to support children attending special education schools to perform activities of daily living independently. In this study, the author supported a child with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and intellectual disability to perform morning activities of daily living by himself, and examined how this support influenced the number of irrelevant behaviors demonstrated by the child and the instructions provided by the teacher. The effect of this support on the proportion of activities that the child preformed independently was also examined. Reviewing the order of the activities and reducing the number of times the child moved in the classroom decreased the number of instructions provided by the teacher and increased the proportion of activities independently performed by the child. Additionally, installing screens at changing rooms that prevented the child from looking at the teacher and moving decreased the number of irrelevant behaviors demonstrated by the child and instructions provided by the teacher. Thus, this study indicates that it is necessary to modify environmental settings in order to reduce children's irrelevant behaviors. Particularly, it can decrease escape-maintained problem behaviors.

The present study examined the effect of number family instruction on improving fluency of addition and subtraction facts through the "cover-copy-compare" and a timed trial procedure. A second-grade student with autism spectrum disorder in Japanese public elementary school participated in this study. Training sessions were conducted in home by her mother. The author supervised the mother's training by e-mail. The author used a multiple-baseline design across two sets of materials. Throughout the study, the mother of the participant measured the number of correct and incorrect digits in 1-minute assessments of addition and subtraction facts and in 1-minute assessments of missing numbers. Intervention consisted of teaching the concept of a number family, "cover-copy-compare" for number families, and using reward contingency for beating one's previous score in 1 minute timed trials of missing numbers. The mother reported the corrected data to the author by e-mail. The results showed that thestudent improved fluency of addition and subtraction facts.

In junior high schools, it is often difficult for students to gain access to special needs education; this is partly because the student-teacher ratio is greater than in elementary schools. The present study aimed to examine utility of behavioral consultation with the teachers of a ninth-grade junior high school student (male) who demonstrated maladjusted behavior in the regular classroom setting. For example, he would leave his seat in the middle of class, chat instead of study, and make a move on his classmates. The teacher consultation focused on development of an intervention plan using functional assessment. The intervention plan was discussed with all teachers who were involved with the student with respect to both the classroom and larger school context. The results showed that some off-task behaviors were substantially reduced (almost disappearing in some cases) with environmental coordination and with functional prompts. The present study demonstrated a meaningful way to do functional assessment and to test hypotheses about student behavior. We were also able to develop a useful intervention plan with limited information and in limited circumstances. Overall, we might demonstrate the guideline of behavioral consultation in the junior high school setting.

This study is intended to verify the educational method aimed at acquisition of the safe transfer assistance technique using a sliding board. Fourteen students who aim to become occupational therapists participated. Applied behavior analysis was the framework for the educational program, and scenarios focused on the transfer from bed to wheelchair (B-W) and from wheelchair to bed (W-B). The program has four components as follows: (1) baseline, verbal instructions and modeling the technique in a video; (2) intervention 1, scoring feedback of the evaluation with verbal praise; (3) intervention 2, additional video instruction with slow play back for areas of difficulty; (4) follow-up, the same as at baseline. Measured variables included transfer assistance technique behavior based on video scoring by two independent reviewers. The participants who completely acquired the transfer assistance technique were five students in B-W, four students in W-B. The participants who were not able to achieve acquisition of the complete technique still reached 96% in both B-W and W-B. It was revealed that an acquisition rate improved by using feedback and verbal praise, a prompt in the stimulation as an education method of the transfer assistance technique.

Students with emotional disturbance (ED) present a range of academic and behavior problems.Positive interventions for students with ED frequently accompany instruction with reinforcement. Increasing the effectiveness of positive interventions may reduce the use of punitive techniques. Reinforcers identified through observation have a greater potential to produce positive treatment outcomes. Choice-stimulus preference assessment allows students to select reinforcers by choosing between presented stimuli. Few studies have compared the effectiveness of testimonials with choice-stimulus preference assessment for children with ED. Despite the assumption that verbal students without severe disabilities have the ability to vocally identify reinforcers, studies of correspondence training suggest that statements made by children may be inconsistent with their behavior. The current study compared the effectiveness of a multiple-stimulus without replacement (MSWO) preference assessment and vocal nomination of preferences in identifying reinforcers for children with ED (n =3) using evidence-based math remediation in an alternating treatments design. The study also assessed the stability of the MSWO and vocal nomination assessments over multiple administrations. Results suggest choice stimulus preference assessment identified effective reinforcers and generated more consistent findings than vocal nomination. In addition, the reinforcers identified by the MSWO assessment evoked more frequent use of instructional procedures than nominated reinforcers in one of the participants. Recommendations for research and practice will be provided.

This study illustrates recent innovations in the changing criteria design. The first, termed range-bound changing criterion, is a simple variation of the changing criteria design that uses a single criterion for each stepwise intervention phase. The range-bound uses a range criterion with an upper and lower limit for each intervention phase. In the first example the participant achieved the goal of running 10km, advancing from a baseline mean of 1.4km, completing the task, free from injury, over 12 weeks. An increasing trend in data was observed, with performance and within phase criteria changing simultaneously. The second, termed distributed criterion, combined elements of the changing criterion, multiple-baseline, and ABAB designs and was designed for contexts where individuals have to complete multiple tasks that require prioritisation and allocation of varying amounts of time and effort. From baseline the participant elected to change the proportion of time allocated to each of the component tennis skills (match play/assessment, warm-up, forehand rallies, backhand rallies, volleys and service) redistributing them in the intervention phases to meet the changing training and ability needs. Both innovations demonstrated utility as a clinical strategy. Their role in minimising injury and allowing a more responsive approach to multitasking is discussed.

The purposes of the present study were (a) to demonstrate the triggers that prompt children's inappropriate behaviors in classroom setting and (b) to examine the effect of the trigger analysis for the problem behaviors of the children with special educational needs in group-oriented regular classrooms in Japan. Trigger analysis is a set of assessment procedures that allows a teacher to identify the events that evoke or cue inappropriate behaviors (Rolider, 2003). We conducted interviews with the assistant teachers to obtain information about children's behavioral difficulties, background details, and possible linkage between the triggers and the likelihood of the behavior's occurrence. They support children with behavioral difficulties in regular classroom. Based on the information gathered through the interviews, they conducted direct behavioral observation. The results of the trigger analysis revealed that most triggering circumstances was academic demands (e.g., teacher presents a challenging task) in Japan. We will report the descriptions (categories) of inappropriate and appropriate response to classroom triggers.

The purpose of this study was to determine if attendance points would improve college students' class attendance and punctuality. Participants were 294 students who taking a health psychology class. In the baseline phase, a teacher took a roll call at random time, and no punctuality contingencies were implemented. In the intervention phase, the teacher started the class with a roll call and explained that students could receive attendance points if they showed up within 10 minutes of the beginning of the class. Two observers distributed handouts to each student directly, and began to count how many handouts were distributed 10 minutes after the class had started.The average number of late arrivals was 52.5 in the baseline phase, and 9.8 in the intervention phase. The average number of total attendance was 241.5 in the baseline phase, and 234.2 in the intervention phase. Tau-U analysis suggested that the number of late arrivals decreased significantly across the baseline and intervention phases after controlling for baseline trend (TAU = --1.30, p < .001). The number of total attendance did not differ significantly.These results indicated that the attendance points intervention was effective at improving tardiness.

Employment is the most important issue of adulthood. Vocation training is essential for adults with developmental disabilities. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of an “Assistant Cook Training Program (ACTP)” on the ability of fifteen adults (ages 19–31) with developmental disabilities to identify kitchen utensils. We used a one group pre-tes/post-test design. The “Kitchen Skills Assessment Form,” designed by the author, was given to participants before and after their training. The independent variable is the ACTP and the dependent variable is the ability to identify kitchen utensils. Twenty utensils are taught using real materials and photos of the utensils. The program will go on until approximately May 2015; findings and results will be presented in the poster.

Consultation training was provided to a graduate student trainee. The trainee had no prior experience in providing such training at that point. The consultation training program included literature reading, live modeling, performance feedback, and monitoring and feedback on recorded video. The effect of the training was assessed during role-play exercises. The student trainee was assigned to fictitious consultation cases that consultees presented. In this study, interviews between the student trainee and consultees were conducted once every two months for about a year. Using a single-case-study design, changes in behavioral consultation skills and clinical skills were evaluated. Further, consultees evaluated the performance of the student trainee after each consultation. In evaluation, the consultant evaluation questionnaire that the primary author created was used. The results of the present study demonstrated that the consultation training program is effective in improving not only behavioral consultation skills and clinical skills of trainees but the degree of satisfaction rated by teacher consultees. One limitation of this study was the sample size of only one participant. This limitation needs to be addressed by conducting the training program for more participants.

It is difficult for children to maintain their on-task behaviors when a given task requires response effort to complete problems (Skinner, 1998). However, we have demonstrated that contingent praise can counteract negative effects of response effort (Nishiyama & Tanaka-Matsumi, 2011, 2012). In the present study, we reexamined the effects of response effort and contingent praise on on-task behaviors of a 7-year-old boy who has difficulties with math computation and writing skills. The child engaged in previously determined less- and more-effort math computation tasks in a series of one-minute trials. We also examined the effect of telling the difficulty of problems (e.g., "The next problem is bit hard. Do you think you can try?") ahead of time and contingent praise for the difficult problems on on-task behaviors. We expected that informing the task difficulty would increase reinforcer value of completing the task and help maintain on-task behaviors. Results systematically replicated our previous findings. In addition, the child could maintain his on-task behaviors when told the difficulty of problems before he tried to solve a problem.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of individualized Positive Behavior Support (PBS) intervention for play behavior of a child with developmental delays in inclusive preschool. The participants of this study were three 5-year old children with developmental delays. The research questionwe sought to answer was, "Does individualized positive behavior support intervention have an effects on play behavior of children with developmental delays in inclusive preschool?" Multiple baseline design across 3 subjects was utilized as a design and functional behavior assessment (FBA) through the review of preschool records, the interview with people related a child with developmental delays and direct observation using video recording led to the assumed hypothesis of antecedent and triggering events of the target behavior in natural setting, which is a inclusive classroom. Positive behavior support using multi-element-based intervention that addresses function of target behavior and emphasize skill streaming were utilized as an intervention. The target play behavior was measured using partial-interval recording system. The results of this study showed that the positive behavior support intervention increased children's play behavior with peers in inclusive preschool classroom. The effects of intervention were maintained 3 weeks after the completion of intervention. In conclusion, this study indicated that individualized PBS intervention was effective on peer play behavior of children with developmental delays in inclusive preschool classroom setting.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of classroom-wide positive behavior support (CWPBS) intervention to reduce challenging behavior of students in Korea. The research question we sought to answer was, "Does classroom-wide positive behavior support have any effects reducing out-of-seat behavior of 6 students with developmental disabilities?" The study subjects were 6 students with developmental disabilities in special school. Multiple prove baseline design across condition, which are math, art, and daily living class in special school was utilized as a research design in this study. The intervention (universal support) was establishing classroom rule for all students, notifying daily schedule to students, environmental restructuring (seat replacement, instructional adoptation) and token reinforcement. The result of this study was that classroom-wide positive behavior support intervention for students with developmental disabilities was effective reducing out-of-seat behavior across three conditions.

The present study examined effects of an intervention package as positive behavior support on decreasing escaping tasks and increasing on-task behaviors. Both an 11- and an 8-year old boy with intellectual disabilities or hearing impairments participated in the study. The study was conducted in special education classrooms in a general elementary school. The target behaviors were escaping given tasks during math or literacy class. The examples of escaping behavior included verbal and physical aggressions, destruction, self-injurious behaviors, and out-of-seat behaviors. Alternative behavior which was trained during intervention was using written cards or vocal requests for break or for less amounts of tasks. In addition to teaching functional communication skill, the intervention package included giving a break when the participants were lack of sleep previous night, giving choices for tasks, and changes in difficulties of tasks. The results of the intervention showed that the intervention package was effective on decreasing escaping behaviors and increasing on-task behaviors.

In this research, indirect-intervention (behavioral consultation) to a special support school was performed. Target School was a special support school for intellectual disabilities located in a city suburb. Subjects were children in first to sixth grade who had various medical conditions ranging from an autism spectrum disorder to an intellectual disability. Intellectual disabilities ranged from slight to serious. Intervention was carried out in workshop form to the teacher of each grade using VTR. The workshop discussed how the students’ problem behavior corresponded to the VTR taken during class. Only expansion of the behavioral repertoire of students and teachers was performed in the workshop; that is, it did not participate in correction of the present behaviors. The result suggested the improvement to students' problem behavior,and it increased in appropriate behavior with teachers. In addition, positive changes were obtained by teaching behavior of the client.

The present research was an exploratory study which aimed at describing the behavior of undergraduate students while they wrote the abstracts of two experiments. They were asked to select the sentences of each article that they judged relevant to the abstract, to order them as they saw fit, and to write down the abstract. The quality of the abstracts improved from the first to the second task for six participants, and worsened for four participants; five participants composed good abstracts from the start, while the others had intermediate performances that did not change. Only one participant included all of the required elements, and none included them in the correct order.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effectiveness of School-Wide Positive Behavior Supports (SWPBS) when applied in Japanese education settings with some modifications for Japanese educational culture. The first author applied SWPBS in two junior high schools as a school principal.From 2007 to 2009, SWPBS was applied in one junior high school which had five classes and consisted of 125 students. From 2009 to 2012, it was applied in a second junior high school which had 15 classes and consisted of 525 students. Before applying SWPBS, it was modified for Japanese educational culture and teachers' beliefs in the following ways: (a) teachers used a reinforcer that was mainly their attention, (b) teachers not only reinforced defined behaviors but also organized other activities to facilitate students recognizing each other for exhibiting defined behaviors, (c) in defining expected behaviors, all teachers were involved in the process of determining the criteria for expected behaviors; students were also invited to the process, (d) for consistency of teaching and supporting defined behaviors across teachers and as a whole school, the critical parts of our school guidance were made the same, (e) the principal intentionally used the process of introducing the SWPBS as a team-building process between him and teachers. As a result of implementation of SWPBS, the number of aggressive incidents among students and for teachers, destruction of school facilities, and wandering during class decreased. Students increased appropriate participation in classroom and school activities. It is suggested that the process of introducing the SWPBS facilitates stronger relationships among teachers.

The purpose of the present study was to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of social stories with and without video modeling for teaching self-protection skills to four students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). An adapted alternating treatments single subject research design was used to compare the procedures in the study and visual analyses of the graphic data were conducted. Four male students with ASD whose ages ranged from 10 to 12 years participated in the study. Target skills for the students were how to respond to the lures of strangers and how to respond if a stranger knocked at the door. The findings of the study showed that both procedures were equally effective on promoting acquisition of the self-protection skills for three of the four students with ASD. Data indicated that there was no difference between the two procedures regarding maintenance and generalization effects. Also, social validity of the study was investigated by asking the participants and their parents to rate their satisfaction of the intervention. The opinions of the parents and participants were positive overall. Based upon the findings, implications and recommendations of the study are discussed.

There is a growing need for trained clinicians to provide ABA-based treatment for children with autism. However, demand for Board Certified Behaviour Analysts (BCBA) greatly outstrips the current supply, which is evidenced by the case of Tianjin where the need for ABA intervention has continued to grow with the increasing prevalence of ASD in China. However there is a paucity of peer-reviewed evidence comparing the accessibility, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of different approaches to training. In the current paper, we examined the effectiveness of a group ABA training workshop for teachers and healthcare professionals in China. One-hundred-fifty educators and healthcare professionals were recruited to participate in a five-day workshop in Tianjin, China, which was conducted by three BCBAs from Canada and Hong Kong. The workshop covered the following areas: autism spectrum disorders (ASD), early intensive behaviour intervention (EIBI), applied behaviour analysis (ABA), discrete trial teaching (DTT), natural environment teaching (NET) and positive behaviour support (PBS). The participants completed tests before and after the workshop, and the results of the tests were analyzed. Social validity was measured as well. The group training was found to be an effective and acceptable method for increasing knowledge and understanding of ABA-based teaching strategies. It is suggested that large-group cross-cultural ABA training can be a cost effective way to train professionals across the globe.

The number of children requiring special care in the classroom is increasing. Therefore, the demands on teachers to provide this care is also increasing. The ABA method is very effective in helping teachers adapt their teaching method to match these children. However, many people believe that ABA is difficult to understand because of many technical terms. Also, the official curriculum for training teachers does not include ABA as a subject in Japan. The purpose of this research is to try to determine the comprehension level of students studying ABA for the first time. In this study, teaching ABA without using difficult technical terms, instead of using daily classroom examples, was investigated. Multiple-choice test were administered to students before and after hearing ABA lectures. A questionnaire made by O'Dell (1979) was used as a basis and modified for this research. Twp groups of students participated in this research. One group was studying to become elementary school teachers, while the other group was training to become kindergarten and preschool teachers. The scores of each group were compared. The students' comprehension increased after the ABA lectures. It can be seen that ABA has two aspects: one that can be easily understood by first-time learners, and the other that is more difficult for them.

The purpose of this study was to examine difficulties that Japanese special education teachers faced in the implementation of intervention-based functional assessment. Seventeen teachers who receivedtraining participated in this study. Questionnaires were designed to investigate difficulties in four categories on functional assessment-based interventions. The four categories were (a) conducting a functional assessment, (b) recording, (c) designing intervention plans, and (d) implementing intervention plans. The questionnaire had 24 items in a 5-point Likert-type scale and open-ended questions. Results showed that teachers rated "recording" category as most difficult, and "designing intervention plans" category as least difficult. Referring to each item, collecting of information except school setting, describing the antecedent events, and collaborating with other teachers in implementing intervention plans were rated as most problematic. On the other hand, items related to techniques in designing and implementing intervention plans were rated less difficult for teachers.

The MSc in Applied Behaviour Analysis offered by the School of Education at Queen's University Belfast, is a highly interactive blended learning programme providing professionals from a wide range of backgrounds with scientifically validated expertise that is applicable to mainstream and special needs education, inclusion, curriculum, learning, and pedagogy. The programme includes a Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) approved course sequence (4th Edition Tasklist) (practice element not included). The MScABA offers a convenient solution to students, who do not need to relocate to Belfast, but if they wished to take the course on campus, Belfast is a city easily reached from Europe by a variety of low-cost airlines.

Caldwell University, a private liberal arts university located in a quiet suburban New Jersey community near New York City, offers an ABAI-accredited 45-credit Masters of Arts degree program in applied behavior analysis. The core of the program consists of a BACB-approved eight-course sequence (24 credits). Students in the MA program are required to complete a behavior analytic research thesis mentored by a faculty member. The MA program prepares students to work in a variety of applied settings and for further doctoral study. New Jersey also boasts of many successful private and public agencies that work with Caldwell University to support training in behavior analysis.

Caldwell University, a private liberal arts university located in a quiet suburban New Jersey community near New York City, offers a 90-credit PhD in applied behavior analysis. The doctorate degree in Applied Behavior Analysis prepares students to work competently with individuals with developmental disabilities, special education, mental health, and academia. The core curriculum for the PhD in ABA program focus on (a) the advanced principles and procedures of basic and applied behavior analysis and practice and research, (b) the application of behavior analysis and behavioral support in complex environments (i.e., home, school, work, and other community settings), and (c), supervision and training of others in behavior analysis, (d), conceptual and theoretical underpinnings of advanced topics in behavior analysis, (e) development and completion of independent research in behavior analysis.

Obesity is considered a main factor in the top three preventable diseases in the United States. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends increased physical activity in children and adults to combat this trend. Physical activity can now be accurately measured with small, wearable accelerometers that submit data wirelessly. The novelty of the accelerometer reinforces increased physical activity, especially those with continuous visual feedback on the device; however, the duration between increased physical activity and improved health may be too prolonged to maintain increased levels of physical activity. Contingency management (CM) can supplement reinforcement for increased levels of physical activity until natural reinforcement contingencies (i.e., physical changes) are apparent. The current study examined the effects of wearing devices with no visual feedback versus visual feedback, as well as feedback with contingency management via a multiple baseline across participants in healthy adults that wanted to increase physical activity for health benefits. Baseline has commenced with one participant at this time. Conclusions can be used to design better behavioral incentive programs with the popular devices to combat the obesity epidemic, as well as determine when CM can be faded.

"Holding people accountable" is a phrase heard widely within organizational cultures in the past year, with the Harvard Business Review even headlining the phrase, "What Ever Happened to Accountability?" on one of their 2012 publications. CLG has been working with a Canadian mining organization to help make this "accountability system" work. According to the Saskatchewan Mining Association, "Without an expectation of effective consequences, accountability is not believable and has no credibility. No consequences—no accountability," and that is where behavior analysis comes in. At ABA 2014, we demonstrated that by using something called visual management, we were able to work with the client to create a system for consequence delivery that was easy, salient, used at every level of the organization, and most importantly, worked to modify behavior in the direction needed to get the results intended. Visual management involves the use of line graphs and other behavior and results tracking methods to display trends over time to help see the direction of performance for both leading and lagging indicators and provides a platform for consequence delivery based on performance. Last year we were able to replicate the results at a different site location and in addition, display sustained results through refinement of visual management boards using new organizational goals.

This study examined the relative effects of objective feedback and social comparison feedback on work performance. In addition, the interaction effects of feedback type and the performance levels of participants were examined. Participants were 150 voluntary college students in the pilot test; 30 participants of middle performance level were excluded. They attended 4 experimental sessions in total. We adopted a between-subject design and participants were randomly assigned to one of four experimental groups: (1) high performer-objective feedback, (2) high performer-social comparison feedback, (3) low performer-objective feedback and (4) low performer-social comparison feedback. The participants performed a simulated work task on the computers. The dependent variable was the number of work task completed correctly. The results showed that the social comparison feedback was more effective than the objective feedback for the high performers, while the objective feedback was more effective than the social comparison feedback for the low performers.

The current study examined the effects of four types of feedback sequences on work performance and emotional responses. Participants were asked to work on a simulated quality control task. Forty eight undergraduate students participated in this study and they were randomly assigned into four groups: 1) positive-positive (P-P) feedback condition, 2) positive-negative (P-N) feedback condition, 3) negative-positive (N-P) feedback condition and 4) negative-negative (N-N) feedback condition. The dependent variable was the number of correct response. In addition, emotional responses of feedback recipient were measured at the end of the experiment. The results showed that the average number of correct responses under the P-P feedback condition was higher than that under the P-N feedback condition, N-P feedback condition and N-N feedback condition at the intervention phase. For the emotional responses, the score of positive emotional responses under the P-P feedback condition was much higher than the P-N feedback condition, N-P feedback condition and N-N feedback condition. On the other hand, the score of negative emotional responses under N-N feedback condition was much higher than the P-P feedback condition, P-N feedback condition and N-P feedback condition.

The current study examined the effects of a brief, group-based form of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) in three adults who met the criteria for chronic low back (CLB) pain. The treatment was delivered in ten 120-minute group sessions for three months. The effects of the intervention were assessed with standard clinical outcome measures including self-reported health-related quality of life (QOL), disability, depression and anxiety, and pain catastrophizing. Physical activity was also measured by activity monitor; the frequency and variety of valued actions were also assessed. Process measures included general psychological acceptance, cognitive fusion, and mindfulness. Immediately after treatment, all participants showed improvements in health-related QOL, disability, and pain catastrophizing compared to the pre-treatment assessments; physical activity and valued action also increased in all participants. However, this improvement slightly decreased at the one-month follow-up. In addition, one participant did not show remarkable improvement on the process measures. The results suggest that ACT group interventions help people with CLB pain by improving their functional performance and reducing their negative beliefs associated with pain; however, treatments to maintain these effects need to be developed.

This study examined the effects of interventions on the consumption of hand and body soap of a man diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder. A multiple baseline design was used. Based on behavioral interviews in a psychiatric outpatient clinic, intervention and data collection were carried out by the patient and his family members at home. The subject, a 30-year-old male, reported bathing took at least 30 minutes due to repetitious washing. In addition, the subject continued to wash hands dozens of times with hand soap and hand sanitizer throughout the day. He relayed in the first therapy session that the obsessive behavior prevented him from continuing his work. Exposure and response prevention focused on the behaviors of washing with body soap and hand soap. The frequency of refilling three types of soap was measured. According to the baseline, each type of soap was refilled approximately every three days. After intervention 1, body soap was refilled approximately every two weeks. After intervention 2, hand soap was refilled approximately every two weeks. The subject could completely return to work in six months. Self-exposure in his home was effective for attenuation of the obsessive behaviors.

Behavior analysis relies extensively on visual inspection of data for interpreting behavior change in interventions, most typically over phases of a design. Recently introduced methods supplement visual inspection with quantitative approaches to examining change. We studied the outcome of computerized behavioral activation therapy for depression. The investigation took place at an academic research laboratory and served low through middle income clinically depressed participants. The computerized behavioral activation program was shown in previous investigations to contain all elements of BA when delivered in face-to-face conventional delivery models. We examined the data using visual inspection, outcomes in relation to reliable change index, an analysis of change using categorical indicators (improvement, worsening, or stable), followed by an analysis using piece-wise (phase relevant) hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). Findings showed the intervention produced significant symptom reduction, and reversed the initial trends of patients who were worsening in the early phase across all of the analytic approaches. In addition computerized behavioral activation demonstrated significant improvement in quality of life, and as important, was associated with increased activation levels for those participants who improved, which supports behavioral activation theory. Some implications for future research are presented.

As demonstrated by previous research, fading that entails slowly changing the characteristics of a preferred drink is one strategy to promote consumption of previously rejected liquids (Luiselli, Ricciardi, & Gilligan, 2005). The current study is a replication of Luiselli et al. (2005). A 7-year-old boy with autism spectrum disorder and food selectivity was taught to drink milk through a liquid fading procedure. He did not have intelligible speech, communicating primarily through gestures and pointing to pictures. As for preferences, he enjoyed social praise and approval. As report from parents, he had a history of restricted food preferences. He still drank powdered infant formula before going to sleep every day. Preceding each session, parents used a calibrated container to prepare one cup (160ml) of liquid according to a predetermined sequence that specified different amounts of powdered infant formula and milk. He always was presented the same cup during sessions. This preparation occurred in a kitchen and outside of his sight. The feeding protocol consisted of gradually increasing the concentration of milk in a powdered infant formula he consumed 100% of the time. Unlike the study by Luiselli et al. (2005), intervention was implemented by parents in a home setting. The study reports a consultation-mediated intervention that was implemented effectively by parents in a home setting.

There is an enormous number of chronic pain patients, and they're also a serious problem in medical economy. Although the validity of the operant behavior therapy by multidisciplinary treatment is demonstrated, the medical facility that can provide the treatment is very little because of medical resources. So we implemented the intervention of behavioral analysis for three intractable chronic pain patients and their families in ordinary outpatient settings. We recorded the number of times of the verbal painful expression or wake-up time for base line. In the intervention phase, we illustrated that patients' pain behavior is not because of organic lesion but socially reinforced by their family, with the use of contingency diagram. And we gave instructions for their family not to give reinforcement for pain behaviors, and treatment programs to replace pain behaviors with alternative active behaviors. As a result, pain behaviors were reduced drastically within only about 1-3 months, the alternative active behaviors increased and pain intensity was reduced too. There haven't been any researches conducting interventions using applied behavioral analysis for chronic pain in ordinary outpatient settings. Our research suggested that applied behavioral analysis could be a brief and effective intervention for chronic pain.

Patients with autism exhibiting aggressive behavior before or during admission to children's or psychiatric hospital, in which adequate behavioral support is not readily available, are often subject to long lengths of stays, as well as subsequently poor discharge transitions and outcomes. The present study aims at identifying the organizational needs of a University Children's Hospital and a University Psychiatric Hospital to better support behavioral complex cases through applied behavior analysis, to implement behavior analytic programming novel to each of these systems upon patient admission, and to measure the functional outcomes as well as the financial cost-benefit of providing these services across both settings. Data is presented to demonstrate a single-case design approach to individual assessment and treatment, group outcomes data, and financial data across patients in an active treatment condition versus those in a control condition. Limitations and future directions are also discussed.

The purpose of this study is to study the effect of consultation with a mother of a child with ASD, who wakes frequently during the night for milk, but who refuses to eat solid food during the day. A 3-year-old boy would drink powdered milk from a bottle and eat only a specific yogurt and chips. The mother was asked to record his sleep and eating. AB design was used. The mother was instructed to stop giving the boy milk during the night. In order to adjust sleep rhythm, milk with melatonin was maintained. The mother was informed that the frequency of waking during sleep would temporarily increase. After the intervention started, the boy woke 20 times in the night and the mother did not give him milk. After the second day, he awoke only 1-2 times. The amount of milkgiven with medication gradually decreased. On intervention day 10, he began to eat his complete lunch of rice. At the time of follow up, the boy could eat more than 70 varieties of food. In conclusion, in the case of eating behavior problems, interventions based on ecological assessment are effective.

We present an extremely severe case of OCD in a 17-year-old male complicated by a complex psychiatric presentation and diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Prominent contamination fears were accompanied by elaborate and lengthy hand-washing and bathing rituals. Behavioral factors co-morbid to the ASD included rigidity in behavior and cognition, perseverative behavior and cognition, and limited social comprehension. Evaluation included extensive interview, MMPI (consistent with anxiety, depression, and lack of social skills), ADOS (indicative of ASD), and SUDS scaling of contamination items and situations. Among his more prominent symptoms: a) multiple hand-washing episodes daily with particular attention paid to the pattern of resulting bubbles, b) multiple-hour bucket bathing, c) almost complete avoidance of his primary source of contamination, his 8-year-old sister, d) preoccupation and constant attention to negative thoughts (e.g., racial slurs, images of bullying) and e) refusal to use any of four bathrooms in his house except the one connected to his room (without difficulty using public restrooms). Given his OCD and ASD, intervention consisted of behaviorally focused techniques to improve functioning such as graduated exposure to contaminants and resulting cognitions (e.g., his sister's toys, clothing, and person), with response prevention (e.g., decreased length of hand-washing).

Preschoolers' ability to delay gratification has an important role in their future outcomes. This study had two aims. First, we assessed the effect of forming implementation intention, which encourages children to identify appropriate behavior and critical cues. Second, we evaluated whether experience in the first trial facilitates persistence in waiting for the delayed reward. Children could receive a more preferred toy if they continued to wait. However, they could obtain a less preferred toy if they ceased to wait. This study consisted of two trials and two conditions. In the control condition, each child was given a standard instruction. In the implementation intention condition, each child was told to form implementation intention in addition to the instruction. Half of the children were assigned to the control condition followed by the implementation intention condition. The other half of the children were assigned to the implementation intention condition followed by the control condition. The result showed no effect of forming implementation intention, although children could wait longer in the second trial than the first trial. This suggests prior experience affects posterior performance in the delay of gratification task.

To assess children's eating patterns and changes effected by interventions we have to measure individual children's consumption directly and accurately. However, gold-standard weight measures are time consuming and impractical in busy dining environments. To develop a photography-based measure suited to the task, we first measured school lunches of 90 children (years 1, 3, and 5) in naturalistic dining environment, considering both school-provided dinners and lunches packed by parents. Children's food was weighed and also photographed before and after lunchtime over three separate days. There was good correspondence between weight estimates based on photographs and direct measurement across different food types. Next, we developed a discrimination training protocol for coders of photographic data that ensures high accuracy and inter-rater reliability in measurement of servings and plate waste. Using less sensitive portion estimates, we have previously established that increases in fruit and veg consumption result in displacement of foods high in fat, salt and sugar. Next, we plan a controlled evaluation of the Food Dudes program using our newly developed measure providing a full nutritional analysis. This will answer an outstanding question in the literature and give a precise description of the changes in children's diet engendered by the Food Dudes program.

Even though it is known that patterns of sedentary behavior track from childhood to adulthood, and that higher levels of physical activity are associated with positive health outcomes throughout life, few preschool children achieve the recommended 180 minutes of daily activity in the UK. Developing effective fun and engaging interventions is fundamental to harnessing children's intrinsic motivation to participate in physical activity that should track into their later lives. Preschool children (aged 3 & 4 years) participated in a proof-of-principle nursery-based role-modelling intervention in North Wales. Children's activities were evoked daily by modelling movies in which the four Food Dudes Junior characters led energetic activities in four interactive stories (10–12 minutes) and four in-class exercise DVDs (Levels 1–10). Children's step counts were compared to standard nursery practice. Fitbit zip accelerometers measured children's school day physical activity and anthropometric measures were taken pre- and post-intervention. Preliminary results show that the intervention was successful in increasing the children's physical activity levels, and was well received by children and staff in the participating kindergarten classes. Next, we plan to administer a controlled evaluation of the short- and long-term effects of this new intervention in England.

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effectiveness of using a parent as a therapist to increase solid intake during mealtimes for a child with food refusal. The use of a non-removal of the spoon (NR), differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA), verbal praise (VP), and a visual board (VB) in a reversal design to increase acceptance and decrease inappropriate behaviors during the mealtime was also evaluated. One 2-year-old-female admitted to the public hospital participated. Highly preferred activities were identified via an interview with the child's parents. Initially each instance of acceptance resulted in access to a preferred activity, verbal praise and removal of the token from the visual board. Following an increase in acceptance, we increased the tokens on the visual board required for exchange to a preferred activity. Finally the visual board was discontinued, and post-meal reinforcement was provided for acceptance of all solids presented during mealtime. Results demonstrated that the non-removal of the spoon, DRA, visual board and verbal praise increased levels of acceptance and decreased levels of inappropriate behaviors from baseline.

Poor vegetable intake can become a problem for an individual's health. This study examined whether reinforcement of differential responses to vegetable consumption increases the variety of vegetables consumed by university students in their daily lives. An ABA design was used. The participants were instructed to consume various vegetables and respond to a daily e-mail questionnaire. Seven university students who had concerns about their lack of vegetable intake participated in this intervention program. In the baseline phase, an e-mail questionnaire was sent to students asking for the name of the vegetable they consumed that day. In the intervention phase (VAR), in addition to the questionnaire, an e-mail message was sent whenever the current vegetable differed from the sequences submitted during the previous week. The number of different vegetables was used to measure response variability. Five students in the VAR phase showed more vegetable varieties than in the baseline phase. Reinforcement of differential responses to vegetable consumption increases the variety of vegetables consumed by students.

The purpose of this study was to predict the cognitive and behavioral functions in patients with dementia. The subjects were 39 patients with dementia (the mean age of 84.6 years). We used Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Functional Independence Measure (FIM) for the evaluation of the cognitive and behavioral functions. To predict each individual's degree of changes in cognitive and behavioral functions, each assessment was carried out onfour occasions: initial assessment and at 3, 9, and 12 months after the initial assessment in each individual. MMSE and FIM scores sampled at two baseline points based on logarithmic regression modeling could estimate prediction of cognitive and behavioral functions (MMSE, third assessment, R2 = 0.44, p < 0.05, fourth assessments, R2 = 0.54, p < 0.05; FIM, third assessment, R2 = 0.81, p < 0.05; fourth assessments, R2 = 0.80, p < 0.05). Logarithmic modeling based on MMSE and FIM scores could accurately predict the recovery of cognitive and behavioral functions in patients with dementia. This logarithmic modeling with simple mathematical procedures is suitable for daily clinical practice.

In a situation in which one is faced with difficult choices, selections are based on competing positive and negative behavioral outcomes. We investigated the relation between reward and behavior probabilities during trial-and-error decision-making tasks. Each trial began with one of the five colored circles including 10% to 90% reward probability presented as a cue. Two seconds after the presentation of the cue, the reward or cost stimulus was presented to the subject. The subjects were instructed to decide whether to perform wrist flexion or not in response to the cues. In every occurrence of reward stimulus after the wrist flexion, the subjects received a Japanese 100-yen coin. However, each time that cost stimulus appeared after the wrist flexion, a coin was deducted from the total reward. Although cumulative numbers of behaviors for the more often chosen reward color developed over time (p < 0.0001), those for 70% and 90% reward probabilities were not significantly different (p = 0.87) that could be described by a logarithmic function (R2 = 0.960, p = 0.003). These results implied that reward probability could alter behavioral probability during the trial-and-error behavioral tasks.

Predicting the recovery of behavioral disorders is important for patients with mental disease. The objective of the present study was to provide data on predicting the recovery of behavioral disorders in patients with mental disease by modeling with linear regression. Seventy-four patients were enrolled from the hospital. We used the Activity Profile Scale for Patients with Psychiatric Disorders (APS) for the evaluation of the behavioral disorders. The APS scores were regressed on the linear of assessments given by f (t) = APS (t1) + ?APS (t2= t1)'1 (t3 ' t1), where tn is the number of assessments. To predict each individual's degree of changes in behavioral disorders, the assessment was carried out on 3 occasions: initial assessment, 1 week after the initial assessment (second assessment) and the time of discharge (third assessments). APS scores sampled at two baseline points (initial and second assessments) based on linear regression modeling could estimate prediction of behavioral recoveries (r = 0.480, p < 0.0001). Linear regression modeling based on APS scores could predict the recovery of behavioral disorders in patients with mental disease. This linear regression modeling with simple mathematical procedures is suitable for daily clinical practice.

The present study compared the effects of two lectures on welfare college students’ care-giving behaviors in care settings based on multiple-baseline-across-participants design. One of the lectures was on behavioral contingency, and the other was on traditional welfare practice. The behavioral-contingency lecture emphasized functional relationships between users’ behaviors and their consequences, whereas the traditional-welfare-practice lecture counted mental events for users’ behaviors. The participants were five students. They received both lectures. After then, they interned in welfare facilities. Their internships were divided into two phases; the traditional care and the behavior analysis phases. In each phase, the students were asked to care for their users based on principles of the lecture corresponding to each phase. Four students handled dietary care and a student did transfer care. The duration in which they cared for their users was measured. Although longer dietary care would rather be preferred due to their compassionate care, shorter transfer care was preferred due to the matter of emergency. In the behavior analysis phase, all students who handled dietary care offered plenty time and a student transferred his user at short time. These results showed that the behavioral-contingency lecture might be effective for the students’ care-support behaviors.

Observe, measure, and control is part of the goal of a behavior analyst in applied areas. Sport setting is one of the areas where a professional can act to change contingencies to improve the sport performance. This performance is a variable extensively studied in physical education area with measurement/control of physiological variables, as VO2 max. Nevertheless another procedures can be used to change contingencies by verbal control of coach. This study aims to present a protocol to teach principles of behavior analysis to a soccer coach. The procedure was, after assignment of informed consent term to video footage and analysis, a) baseline measurement of shots on goal with video footage, b) teaching of reinforcement/punishment, rule controlled behavior, c) identification by the coach of his own behavior as correct or incorrect in previous video footage. After, d) the emulation of correct verbal consequence to right shots on goal, rules to engage in a correct topography of shoot, then e) the verification of the responses and video footage of coach responses, f) individual session with coach to identify his behavior according to behavioral principles previously learned, repetition of e) and f). Finally, the measurement and comparison of shots on goal by players under coach verbal behavior modification. There were a significant change in shots on goal by players and significant identification by coach of his own behavior and the effects in players’ performance. The protocol appears to change soccer players’ performance and improve, in this case, coach verbal behavior. Future studies can apply the same protocol inducing only the rules for correct topography without verbal consequences for the right shots on goal.

Studies have described that human repertoire as multi-determined, sport behavior as one of that. Sport behavior can be described as a motor performance under certain conditions-here described as "rules" in the sense of radical behaviorism-traditionally determined in a modality. Relative to sports of high performance there is a continuous search for a procedure to improve performance. Athlete of high performance isn't used frequently because the performance can decrease or deteriorate before tests/competition. This sense, amateur athletes with large experience-on years of exposition-can be a good sample to measure the change in sport behavior in sense of translation/generalization to high performance condition. This work goals measure the change in pace (Km/h) in street runner by controlling auditory/musical stimuli during 10km route. Two male runners' pace was measured; subjects with 32 and 33 years old with at least six years of experience and two proves at year. The procedure used (1) recruitment in gym, (2) application of free informed term of consent and socio-demographic questionnaire, (3) analysis and selection of two subjects, (4) limitation of music preference, (5) measure of pace in 10km, (6) analysis of three points of sharp declined in pace, and (7) measure of pace in the prearranged points where music was activated. The results show increase in pace in prearranged points and in general route in both subjects. This result can indicate the behavioral concept named as establishing operations, where stimuli can change/increase the frequency, "strength," and decrease of latency of key-response running pace in this work. A second effect of the previous stimuli is the change of the reinforcement-value (of the consequence). Posterior research can use visual cues or tactile stimuli, or verbal responses of coach in change of pace.

The current study investigated the effects of a speaker immersion procedure on the number of autoclitic mands and duration of tantrum behavior of two seven-year old males diagnosed with ASD. The time-delayed multiple baseline across participants design was used to analyze the relationship between dependent variables and independent variables. The dependent variables of this study were (a) the number of autoclitic mands emitted during both non-instructional and instructional settings and (b) the duration of tantrum behavior. Once a stable responding trend during the baseline was reached, the participants entered the speaker immersion protocol where the experimenter presented frequent establishing operations (EO) so that the participants had to emit mands to engage in desired activity, or acquire a certain reinforcer. After the mastery of the speaker immersion protocol, the post-intervention baseline sessions were conducted. Results showed that both participants' autoclitic mands increased across both instructional and non-instructional settings. In addition, the duration of tantrum behavior decreased for both participants.

In the present study, native Spanish speakers were taught a small English vocabulary (Spanish-to-English intraverbals). Four different training conditions were created by combining textual and echoic prompts with written and vocal target responses. The efficiency of each training condition was examined by analysing emergent relations (i.e., tacts) and the total number of sessions required to reach mastery under each training condition. All combinations of prompt-response modalities generated increases in correct responding on tests for emergent relations but when target responses were written, mastery criterion was reached faster. Results are discussed in terms of efficiency for emergent relations and recommendations for future directions are provided.

The present study compared the effects of two-listener responses at tact training of a child with autism, which asked him to watch some scenes and report. In Session A, he was instructed to make one-word sentences to report the name of an item ("an apple"). Session B required him to make two-word sentences using a verb and an object to report what actors were doing ("ate an apple"), while Session C required him to make three-word sentences using a subject, a verb, and an object ("Smith ate an apple"). Under the condition of providing social reinforcement with mirroring, if he could report accurately, the trainer (listener) responded "Smith ate an apple? Thanks for telling me!" Under the condition of providing social reinforcement without mirroring, the trainer responded "Thanks for telling me!" Session A was terminated after three sessions under without mirroring condition because he reported all items accurately. During Session B and C, three sessions under without mirroring were conducted first and followed by three sessions under with mirroring; then, the procedure was repeated. The result showed that the child reported more accurately under the condition of providing social reinforcement with mirroring than without mirroring at any level.

The present study investigated the effects of vocal models in passive voice versus preferred consequences contingent to descriptions in active voice. Two experiments were conducted. In the first, four 4-year-old children participated. During baseline and post-test, drawings of two animals interacting were presented and its description required. In model condition, which followed, drawings were described in passive voice and descriptions were required for similar drawings—same animals, same action, but reversed roles. In these conditions, descriptions were followed by a 10-second interval. The next condition, model-consequence, was similar to the preceding, except that preferred consequences followed active voice description while passive voice was followed by a 10-second interval. Passive voice descriptions occurred during model, model-consequence, and post-test conditions. However, a sequence effect may have arisen between model and model-consequence. In the second experiment, four different 4-year-old children participated. The conditions were similar, but model condition was replaced by a consequence condition where active voice descriptions were followed by preferred consequences. Active voice descriptions were preponderant during all conditions, except during model-consequence when three participants described drawings in passive voice. Passive voice descriptions were, probably, maintained by reinforcement of achieving parity with vocal models, showing its importance in learning complex language.

The effectiveness of experimental verbal operant analyses were investigated in the current study and compared with descriptive assessments of verbal behavior to determine the extent to which the two methods would yield data supporting similar conclusions. Specifically, we compared a functional analysis technology based on that reported by Lerman et al. (2005) with outcomes measured on the Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP; Sundberg, 2008). Five preschool- to primary–school-age children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder participated in this research. Using stimulus control ratios as the dependent measure, we examined the relative strength of control across four primary verbal operants—mands, echoics, tacts, and intraverbals—for each participant using descriptive and experimental data collected within a week of each other. As with previous research that compared similar analyses of problem behavior (Lerman & Iwata, 1993; Thompson & Iwata, 2007), we found discrepancies across descriptive and experimental measurements of the verbal behavior emitted by each of the five participants. Implications for evaluation and treatment are discussed.

The following study focuses on an individual who is often perceived as teasing orharassing others on his unit. The intervention applied a technique to reinforce verbal behavior, while at the same time assist the patient in receiving social attention in a more acceptable manner. This has been a problem for many years and the theme invariably involves conflict with peers. Based on a review of the literature to address this problem identified as inappropriate verbalizations during the daily routine. This addresses the research question experimentally by having the patient in a social interaction in the same type of social circumstance that has resulted in altercations in the past. During the treatment phase the patient has the opportunity to read a joke, previously selected by a therapist, and read to his fellow patients during the lining up process. An ABAB comparison of the patient in baseline and the treatment condition is presented.

Although the effectiveness of social skills training(SST) has been consistently reported, there are not many studies in which behavioral assessment was conducted to evaluate it. The purpose of the present study was to conduct behavioral assessment to examine whether SST improved students’ social performance. In the behavioral assessment via video-taped recording, not only students’ target skills trained in SST but also the degree to which students followed the staff’s instruction was observed as the reflection of generalization effect. Three first-grade students were selected as participants based on the score of parent-reported social skills rating scale. These students were either diagnosed or suspected as developmentally disabled. The result demonstrated that two students showed improvement in a “listening skill.” For all students, however, the degree of following instructions varied depending on the day and situations, and the generalization effect of SST was not clearly found. Interestingly, it was also found that all students were more likely to follow the instruction with staff’s prompt. This suggested that for students with developmental disabilities it was hard to generalize a skill to a different context, and that it is always helpful for these students to be instructed individually.

The purpose of this study is to search the effectiveness of an incidental teaching program about asking for help when taught to a child with autism. The subject of this study is a five-year-old child with autism who attends special education schools; he can speak two-word sentences. The study took place in the city center of Eskisehir during the academic year 2014-15. The study is a multiple probe design across settings design, composed of teaching sessions, general sessions, and maintenance sessions. These settings are composed of a group education class, an individual class, and kitchen. The dependent variable is asking for help behavior and the independent variable is incidental teaching. Findings of the study show that the participant learned asking for help in all settings via incidental teaching program. Also, it is seen that the participant was able to maintain the acquired skills and generalize it to other materials. Results and discussion data will be shared.

Though definitions and estimates vary, feeding disorders are common in children and can result in significant medical/health and social consequences (Kozlowski, Taylor, González, & Girolami, in press). Feeding problems may encompass inadequate volume/variety, tube dependence, poor growth, and/or developmentally inappropriate independence/texture/solid to liquid ratio/mealtime behaviour. Children may not be able to drink from a cup, utilise utensils, or chew age-appropriate foods. Causes and impacting factors are often multifaceted and accordingly, interdisciplinary assessment by a team of specialised and trained professionals is required. Research into effective assessment and treatment methodology has increased and will be reviewed and synthesised in the current presentation. Significant advances have been made in the area of antecedent assessments and descriptive and functional assessments. Intervention strategies have been shown to increase appropriate mealtime behaviour (e.g., volume, independence, texture/chewing, variety) and decrease inappropriate mealtime behaviour and tube dependence. Unique techniques to target specific topographies including nonacceptance, expulsion, and packing have been evaluated. In conclusion, substantial progress has been made involving the evaluation of assessment and treatment methodology in the field, and interventions based in applied behaviour analysis (e.g., escape extinction, physical guidance, and differential reinforcement of alternative behaviour) have been well-established.

This study examined the effects of teacher attention on the on-task behavior of a child with pervasive developmental disorder (PDD-NOS). The study was conducted in a general first-grade education classroom at a Japanese elementary school using an ABA design. We observed the participant child's on-task behavior and out-of-seat behavior by using a 1-min interval recording procedure. We also recorded the number of intervals that the teacher provided attention to the child while she was seated. After the baseline (A), the teacher was told to provide attention (praise or redirection) to the child at least every 5 minutes using a timed vibratory cue device as prompts (B). The teacher was allowed to provide attention to the child between scheduled attention deliveries when the child was seated. We told the teacher to ignore the child's off-task behavior when she was out of herseat. In the second baseline (A), these procedures were faded. During the intervention, the teacher attention to the child increased and the percentage of the child's on-task behavior also increased. Percentage of the child's out-of-seat behavior decreased during the intervention. We continue to observe whether reintroducing the intervention would increase the child's on-task behavior.

The present study examined effects of social skills trainint (SST) on children's greeting skill using ABC design. The participants were 24 elementary school students from first through sixth grade with developmental disabilities. They all scored below the expected level in social skills according to their parent ratings. The parents reported the difficulty of engagement with peers. Based on a behavioral assessment of social interactions, "greeting skill" was selected as a target skill. Pleasant greeting has two components: looking at partner's face and speaking with appropriate voice intensity. In baseline (A), prior to training, we observed whether they greeted pleasantly at the initial entry to the training room. In intervention 1 (B), children practiced the greeting skill during the SST session. In intervention 2 (C), the challenge sheet was added during SST to enhance generalization of training effect in daily life. They earned token stickers if they greeted pleasantly. They could change them into points to get favored stickers. As a result, in intervention 1 (B), the averagepercentage of children who could greet staff pleasantly increased to 44.4%, and to 70.8% in intervention 2 (C). At the five-month follow-up, the pleasant greeting was maintained. In sum, SST and the challenge sheet contributed toward the pleasant greeting.

Japanese students with developmental disabilities often show difficulties in Kanji (ideogram) writing. Our previous findings showed that stimulus pairing (SP) training and sequential stimulus pairing (SSP) training were both effective to improve reading skills. However, we still do not know whether students learned Kanji writing skills through these trainings. In this study, we examined whether five Japanese students with developmental disabilities could acquire Kanji writing skills via both SP and SSP trainings. While we presented the pairs of Kanji letter, sound, and the picture sequentially in SP training, the decomposed Kanji stimuli were also presented prior to the stimulus pairs in SSP training. During the baseline, students wrote nine Kanji letters when the corresponding Japanese Hiragana (phonogram) word was presented. During the training, three of each stimulus pairs were presented for three times and students observed the sequentially presented visual stimuli. The results showed that all students learned Kanji writing via both procedures while SSP procedure required smaller numbers of training blocks to meet the criteria than SP procedure. The result suggested that observing the partial stimulus sustaining spatial location were the keys to facilitate the acquisition of Kanji writing skills for Japanese students with developmental disabilities.

Students with intellectual disabilities should learn—while still school age—to volunteer, as it is important for adult social adaptation and integration. Volunteer activity makes students with intellectual disabilities keep more regular and valuable housing life in adulthood and proper social personal relations with co-workers after graduating. Therefore, volunteer activities are emphasized in transition education. The purpose of the study was to apply community-based volunteer activities training to three students with intellectual disabilities and to examine the effect of the program on their volunteering skills. The sub-skill studied using a multiple baseline probe design across subjects was “senile hair washing.” The study applied the teaching technique of community-based volunteer activity training in a form of integration package by being composed of multiple elements. In the program, task analysis, direct teaching, minimum promotion method, time delay method, visual clue, self-check table, token reinforcement (behavior restriction), video modeling, and role play (behavior demonstration) were included. And to the program of the study, community intervention and educational room intervention were applied through combination with each other. All the subjects acquired the level of complete independent fulfillment (100%) in volunteering skill and the acquired skill was kept after intervention was completed. In addition, the program had an effect on measuring generalization of the subjects. Those results were discussed in the side of community-based volunteer activities training for students with intellectual disabilities. It is expected that the results of the study will be utilized for data required to developing and practicing related life-based educational program in the field of special education.

In this study, three nursery school teachers attended a workshop based on applied behavior analysis (ABA) for problem behavior support. This study measured three outcomes: (1) the knowledge of applied behavior analysis given to the nursery school teacher, (2) a feeling of development of childcare provider’s efficacy, and (3) indirect influence caused to children. The two hour workshop was carried out five times. The workshop program was created based on "competing behavior pathway," "antecedent control," "token economy system," "extinction and differential reinforcement," "functional assessment," "behavioral contingencies," and "includes defining the target behavior." Before and after the workshop, tests were administered on the knowledge of ABA (KBPAC), development of childcare provider’s efficacy (development-of-childcare-provider’s-efficacy-scale), and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). As a result of the workshop, improvement was seen in the score of KBPAC and development-of-childcare-provider’s-efficacy-scale. Also, from the result of SDQ, a drop was seen in plural scores about the difficulties.

This study describes an eye tracking system game to teach eye contact. Participants were three typically developing children between the ages of 18 and 23 months. The task consisted of sitting in front of a computer and looking at the monitor screen attached to an eye tracking apparatus. The discriminative stimuli presented on screen was an anthropomorphic figure (balloon with eyes and mouth). The trials could contain one, two or three balloons. The balloons appeared at the bottom of the screen and disappeared of the top. The required response was for the child to look at the balloon's eyes, and as the consequence, the balloon would burst. The procedure was composed of a baseline, three training phases with CRF reinforcement and a generalization testing. The consequence was presented immediately after the child looked at the balloon (Phase 1), after 1.5 second of eye contact (Phase 2), and after 3 seconds (Phase 3). The criteria to change from one phase to another was to look in the eyes of six consecutive balloons. Two children reached the criteria from the baseline onward, and maintained their performance in generalization testing. One child had better performance in Phase 3 and generalization testing. The software was effective keeping children looking at the figure's eyes and increased eye contact for another child. The software can be a resource for teaching children with disabilities.

Theory of mind (ToM)—commonly referred to as one's ability to attribute thoughts, beliefs, and intentions to oneself and others—is an area of significant deficit for many individuals with autism. However, there are few objective methods to determine present levels. Behavior analysts strive to operationally define behaviors associated with ToM in an effort to increase behavioral repertoires necessary to develop and sustain social relationships. The Theory of Mind Test is a measure, originally developed in Holland and studied with Dutch and Belgian children (Muris, Steerneman, Meesters, Merckelbach, Horselenberg, van den Hogen, & van Dongen, 1999), which assesses for a developmental progression of ToM skills, grouped in three categories, in children ages 4 through 12, and children with ASD were found to have deficits in this area. The test was revised and the current study includes norming the measure using English speaking children and validating the test in this country. Preliminary data reflect a developmental progression of theory of mind skills in typically developing children assessed, indicates good test-retest reliability and inter-rater reliability, and the regression analysis shows that a diagnosis of autism is a stronger predictor of performance on the ToM test-R than IQ, age, or gender.

It is indicated that response-stimulus pairing was effective in conditioning praise as a reinforcer. However, it is not clarified whether the effect of this procedure is different in terms of characteristics of participants, the degree of preference, property of established reinforcers, developmental age, and so on. In the current study, response-stimulus pairing and schedule thinning of the established reinforcers were conducted with four young children with ASD and similar developmental age. First, we conducted preference assessments for social (e.g., tickling), edible (e.g., popcorn), and praise (e.g., "Good Job!") reinforcers before the trainings could begin. Then, we evaluated the effect of preference on efficacy of response-stimulus pairing using alternating treatments design that involved three conditions that were established social reinforcers, established edible reinforcers, and extinction. The results suggested that only praise increased target responses for two of four children who preferred social reinforcers during preference assessments. However, praise barely increased target responses for the other two children who preferred edible reinforcers during preference assessments.

Very young children are increasingly diagnosed with autism, yet they represent a relatively small percentage of youngsters for whom strategies and interventions with research base. Use of traditional ABA approaches, particularly discrete trial training, are often difficult with very young children. Further, because play is so important to early development, the instruction of play is of potential benefit for children with autism. The authors theorized that we could both teach youngsters “to play” and “through play” using play-based discrete trials and other ABA technologies. This case study presents results from a play-based applied behavior analysis intervention used with 2 two-year-olds with autism. Positive results were seen within 3 months for both youngsters, with greatest gains made by the child who continued for over a year. Improvements were made across several domains, including play, communication, receptive language, and verbal operants. At our poster we will share examples of programming, discuss theoretical and practical issues and solutions, and present videotaped examples of the use of play-based ABA for very young children with autism or other developmental disabilities.

Children with autism are often taught to use speech-generating devices (SGDs) to communicate. It has been suggested that the feedback from a SGD (in the form of synthetic speech output) might facilitate performance and induce natural speech. The present study compared performance under three types of feedback conditions on performance in two picture-matching tasks and on the child’s frequency of natural speech production. The participant was a 4-year-old girl with autism. Both tasks were presented on an iPad-based SGD. The first (receptive task) required the child to select a picture named by the trainer, from a field of six pictures, when given the instruction (e.g., "Find the cow."). The second (non-identical picture matching task) required the child to select the correct picture from the iPad when shown a non-identical picture by the trainer and told to “find this.” A pool of 60 pictures was used and pictures were randomly assigned to three feedback conditions: (a) speech output from the SGD only (e.g., “cow”), (b) speech feedback from the trainer only (“Cow, that’s right”), and (c) feedback from the SGD and from the trainer (“cow” [from SGD] and “Cow, that’s right” from the trainer). The participant’s performance on the second non-identical picture matching task was consistently accurate throughout the course of the study and her performance on the receptive task showed an increase over the course of the study. She responded more frequently with natural speech during the (a) SGD-only, and (c) SGD plus trainer feedback conditions compared to the (b) trainer-only feedback condition. In addition, SGD feedback appeared to be associated with better performance on the receptive task. These findings appear consistent with some literature suggesting that SGD feedback can sometimes facilitate communication and natural speech production. The data suggest that some children with ASD or severe communication impairment might benefit from synthetic speech feedback from an SGD during receptive language tasks.

Recent recommendations on functional analysis assessment of problem behaviors have pointed to conditional designs particular to idiosyncratic conditions in the initial tests (Hagopian, Rooker, Jessel & Deleon, 2013; Hanley, 2012). The present study sought to integrate idiosyncratic functional analysis designs with the emerging research line showing the efficacy of conducting functional analysis assessments remotely via video conferencing (Wacker et al., 2013) supervised by a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. The participant is a three-year-old male diagnosed with autismspectrum disorder who exhibits aggressive behaviors toward his mother. He is currently receiving intensive behavioral service at a center-based facility in China. Four test conditions—conventional attention, divided attention, modified attention, and termination of ongoing conversation—were compared to the control condition that suggest the problem behavior was maintained by contingent disruption to conversation. Methods pertaining to remote supervision to complete the assessment as well as treatment design based upon assessment findings will be discussed.

This study examined the effects of tutoring ABA techniques related to basic learning skills such as eye contact and following directions tothree mothers with children between 3 and 9 years old diagnosed with ASD. The tutoring program started after the parents attended a 12-week lecture on ABA behavioral techniques. Examples of targeted basic learning skills included (1) putting on and taking off stickers from the mother's face or to look at the object that the mother holds up to increase eye contact, (2) handing over the designated object to the mother to increase attention, and (3) keeping hands on the lap and waiting until the mother's instruction is completed to increase ability to follow directions. Generalization to daily life was encouraged to be practiced at home by the mother such as: teaching of token economy; use of daily schedule chart; teaching of academic skills such as vocabulary, number concept, reading/writing; and increasing communication and social skills, playing in a group, going to a music concert, etc. In this tutoring system, each of the three mothers worked with her child from the baseline to the end of ABA treatment while the tutor observed the mother-child interactions from the observation room equipped with a one-way mirror and coached the mother what to do on the spot simultaneously. Each session ran 10 to 20 minutes, with4 to 5 sessions a day, 3 days a week per child. This tutoring system lasted for 3 months and each child received a total of 50 hours of ABA therapy. All of the three children showed a remarkable progress in all of the three target domains but also in daily living activities such as self-help skills and communication skills. Play activities, social skills, and some basic academic skills. An ABA parent tutoring system can be an ideal option for children with ASD because the well-trained ABA parent can provide a 24-hour ABA intervention service.

Participants included two male adolescents 18 years of age diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Participants were selected based upon age, diagnosis, the need to improve their activities of daily living skills, and parental permission. Participant’s observations were conducted in their home setting. Observations took place in the natural environment where the tasks would be performed. Baseline and maintenance phases occurred in the participant’s home environment. Three tasks were identified for each young adult through a collaborative process involving their parents. These tasks included skills that the young adults were not able to perform independently or needed prompts to complete. The tasks identified for participant 1 were cooking, setting the table, and folding jeans. For participant 2 the tasks identified were setting the table, cleaning the bathroom counter and sink, and cleaning the mirror. The participants were selected for the study because of the deficits in their daily living skills. All videos were created using both the Apple iPad and Apple iPod. Three videos for each participant were created based on the targeted task. These videos were created from a “first-person” perspective. Through the eyes of the participants, the videos portrayed the arms and hands of the model performing the task (Bellini & Akullian, 2007). The entire task was filmed with a verbal description of each step as it was being performed. This study followed Kellems and Morningstar’s (2012) multiple probe design across behaviors. For each participant one task was acquired before the next task was introduced. “When the young adult reached the criterion level on the first targeted behavior, the intervention was then introduced to the second target behavior while the third remained in baseline with data probes” (p. 158). The dependent variable was the percentage of steps performed correctly (using a task analysis). The task analysis recorded each step that was performed correctly or incorrectly during each session (Kellems and Morningstar, 2012).Interobserver checks occurred during 100% of the baseline conditions, 50% of the probe condition, and 24% of the intervention condition. The overall mean was 99%. Agreement ranged from 95%–100%. IOA for prompt data during the intervention condition was 83% with a range of 50%–100%. This study replicated similar methods by Kellems and Morningstar (2012) in which baseline data were collected from all participants. The intervention was introduced for the first task once a stable baseline was established for all tasks. Intervention for task 2 after the participant demonstrated acquisition of the first task as determined by three consecutive stable data points at 100%. The same procedure was used for task 3. Prior to the intervention phase participants were taught how to access the videos from their iPad (participant 1) and iPod (participant 2). During the intervention phase one verbal prompt was given to the participant to watch the video of the targeted task on the device then to perform the task. An initial prompt was given to review the video from the previous step up until and including the step where the error occurred (e.g., “watch the video”). If errors continued, up to three prompts were given before moving on. Data was collected on the number of prompts given if the participant performed the step incorrectly more than one time.

This study examined the effects of providing opportunities to choose task material in order to improve social behaviors among a child with autism and severe intellectual disability. As a number of studies revealed positive effects of choice making on the children's behavioral performance, this study also found positive effects. In other words, our research indicated that the subject showed social behaviors more frequently in the choice condition. In addition, the latency of approaching behaviors was significantly shortened. Randomized tests were conducted to compare the choice condition to the no-choice condition, and found that the same results. Specifically, more remarkable positive effects were found under the condition using less preferred activities. Reviewing our research, it was suggested that the choice condition improved subject's social behaviors while prompting access to more preferable activities. In addition, we also found the possibility that act of choice making itself positively influenced subject's social behaviors. In this study, we attempted to establish theoretical explanation using the transitive conditioned motivation operation (CMO-T).

This research employed a phenomenological study that examined the social interactions of four young adults with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) during online game play in a virtual environment. Participants attended a large urban university and were enrolled asfreshmen or sophomores in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) field of study. Given the evolution of technology and opportunities to socialize in virtual communities, it is becoming increasingly important to understand how young adults with ASD assimilate into new social opportunities that provide a supports for extraneous variables such as face-to-face situations. As research begins to emerge on virtual environments, little research currently addresses the socialization and development of interpersonal relationships specific to young adults with ASD and the generalization of those skills. The phenomenological research method was used to explain the social activities as they occurred for this specific group of individuals. Structured and unstructured interviews, observations, document analysis, and a questionnaire were conducted. Analysis was conducted using emergent coding. Common themes identified included, emotional recognition, friendship development, and perceptions of self and social interactions. This presentation will discuss current findings, implications, and future directions for research focused on the use of virtual environments and postsecondary outcomes for young adults with ASD.

The aim of this research was to teach children with autism to understand "if" sentences. The participants were four children with autism (three boys and one girl). The conditional discrimination training was introduced them in order to establish the discrimination between "if" sentences are there and or not "if" sentence. The arrow card was used as the conditional discriminative stimuli. After completing training, the emergence of derived relations was tested. Three of four children showed the emergence of derived relations (mutual entailment and combinatorial entailment). Additional training was implemented to the rest child. After completing additional training, the emergence of combinatorial entailment was observed. Two children showed the generalization to the novel stimuli. These results showed the training was useful to teach children with autism to understand "if" sentences. These results also were discussed on relational frame theory. The topics of the understanding "if" sentences and perspective-taking will be discussed.

It is estimated that 30% of individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) fail to develop vocal output capabilities. Therefore, they are candidates for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). AAC systems are classified as either unaided or aided. Picture exchange (PE), the picture exchange communication system (PECS), and speech generating devices (SGD) or voice output communication aids (VOCA) are aided systems of AAC. Recently, several handheld electronic devices have been used for communication purposes as an AAC. We conducted a systematic review to identify research studies that utilized high-tech devices to teach functional communication skills to preschool children with ASD. We conducted a systematic review to determine the impact of using handled electronic devices on the communication skills of children with ASD. A total of 11 studies were reviewed to determine the effectiveness of the intervention on communication skills. Results will be discussed and implications for practice and future research will be provided during the session.

The current study tested effectiveness of the conditioning procedure using a time-lagged multiple baseline across behaviors with multiple probe design. The participant in this study was a four-year-old male with autism. The participant didn’t show any form of appropriate play behaviors (e.g., playing puzzles) and emitted vocal and physical stereotypic behaviors when play materials (e.g., blocks) were presented around him. Independent variable was a conditioning procedure in which the participant’s appropriate play behavior was paired with praises and edibles in an average of 5 seconds for 5 minutes. Blocks, puzzles, and books were used during the conditioning procedure. Dependent variables were appropriate play behaviors with blocks, puzzles, and books, and vocal and physical stereotypy measured during 5-minute probe sessions. During intervention phase, the conditioning procedure was implemented and probes for play behaviors and stereotypy were conducted after every 5 conditioning sessions. The results showed a functional relationship between conditioning and an increase in appropriate play in the presence of blocks, puzzles, and books, and a decrease in stereotypy during probe sessions.

In this study, we conducted training to acquire cooking skills for a 13-year-old boy with ASD, and examined the effects of a training program and generalization to a home setting. The participant practiced cooking skills using a manual book with task analysis and written procedure of cooking. We gave the participant prompt feedback depending on the responses. As a result, the participant has been able to cook miso soup, a sandwich, hamburger steak, omu-rice (omelette containing fried rice), shoga-yaki (ginger-flavored slices of fried pork) etc., by himself. The cooking behavior has not occured in the home setting by merely conducting skill training at the university. Next, we intervened with family members for generalization of acquired cooking skills. As a result, cooking behavior in the home setting increased. This investigation, related to social validity, has revealed that the mother of the participant, appreciated the effects of the program and the domestic help related to cooking by the participant. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are presented.

Recently, human right committee policies that prohibit or restrict environmental or exclusionary time-out procedures have been adopted by various schools and agencies in western countries under the atmosphere of questioning the use of time-out rooms. This study evaluated the effects of two less restrictive intervention procedures of activity time-out and non-exclusionary time-out with functional language training. These two procedures were applied to one autistic child who exhibits destructive behaviors such as throwing, hitting, and tearing out toys or other educational items. To compare effects of these two procedures, multiple treatment design of ABC was utilized. After baseline phase, two intervention procedures were carried out sequentially. During phase A, whenever the child exhibited the target behavior, he was instructed to sit on the designated cool down chair inside the group area for 1 min as an ATO procedure. This ATO means that the child is not excluded from the environmental area of the group, but only from the activities. During phase B, the child started being provided with arm badge for a decent activity behavior as DRA procedure against destructive behaviors, but the child was prompted to take off the arm badge earned on a reinforcement condition whenever he exhibited the target behavior. The result turned out to be that the non-exclusionary procedures are more effective to reduce the frequencies of the target behaviors than ATO procedures. It can be discussed that non-exclusionary time-out procedure of "arm badge" seems to be a viable type of traditional environmental and exclusionary time-out.

An important educational objective for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is to be able to talk about topics that are of interest to listeners. In natural conversations, questions posed by the listener can function as discriminative stimuli for indicating the listener's interests. If a child with ASD repeatedly answers the specific question posed by the listener, he/she could begin talking about the topic in which the listener is interested without the question. Two children with ASD participated in this study. The participants were required to walk toward and watch a video picture, walk back to one of the two listeners, and report all that they had seen. In the first training condition, the listeners asked the specific conversational question to the participants; thereafter, questions posed by the listener gradually faded out in the second training condition. In addition, we examined the generalization regarding the different video picture of the same topic. As a result, one participant could report the same topic that the listener had asked, whereas the other could report correctly after additional training. Both participants showed a response to the new stimuli. The results demonstrated the possibility of transfer of stimulus control to reporting behaviors following the question and answer training.

The Social Story describes a social attitude, how to interact with others, and skill to children and adults with autism spectrum disorders. The Social Story is written in a specifically defined style and format. According to its supporters, The Social Story has facilitated the development of social attitude. This review analyzed research quality of single-subject researches using The Social Story in Japan, and showed present questions in Japan. The studies included in this review were searched by Google Scholar and CiNii; the keyword was "social story" in Japanese. Quality indicators for single-subject research developed by Horner et al. (2005) were used as to evaluate the methodological quality of each study reviewed. Nineteen studies were included in the review. The results from analyzing research quality showed that the onlysix studies satisfied more than half of indexes of standards of quality indicators for single-subject research. Most studies don't fulfill some of indexes; for example, "Interobserver agreement data reported" and "Design controlled threats to internal validity." Finally, future research must entail experimental and extensive comprehension of the general effect of The Social Story to ensure more effective support. Furthermore, the outstanding questions regarding reliability and validity are provided.

Technology has developed dramatically, especially using robots in the education of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In other words, recent developments facilitate the improvement of social skills of children with ASD by the use of special robots in teaching. According to the findings of the current literature; (a) children with ASD have some difficulties in comprehending the physical world and are limited to comprehend the “social world,” (b) they respond to the feedback when feeling manipulated by the technology instead of the people in charge, and (c) they are more interested in practices which are engaged with components (e.g., electronic and robotic). Briefly, the preferences of the children with ASD coincide in terms of social skills and use of robotics rather than the people. When the literature is reviewed, a number of studies are seen about the efficacy of robots in the education of children with ASD. The research findings shows that the use of social support robots is a particularly effective tool in teaching social interaction skills. In order to achieve the scientific studies on the use of robots in development of social skills to the children with ASD, a survey was made from online databases, especially from the National Council of Higher Education Thesis Center webpage, EBSCO-HOST, ERIC, Academic Search Complete and Google Scholar, Science Direct, Saga Up. As a result of the scan, various efficacy studies conducted in 2003-2015 and international literature studies has been reached. The information from these studies will be provided for how to use robots in teaching various skills to children with ASD, which teaching skills are more focused, varieties of the robots, teaching methods, the findings of effectiveness studies, limitations, and recommendations.

This study analyzed the effects of the training program for staff that were in charge of individuals with behavioral disorders. Thirty-nine participants, working at residential facilities or medical facilities, were in charge of individuals with behavioral disorders. The staff training program consisted ofsix sessions based on functional analysis using "Strategy Sheet" (Inoue, 2007). Each participant was required to intervene according to the individualized intervention plan for their client. Moreover, participants were required to submit a recording sheet and strategy sheet at every training session. Submitting those sheets continued until follow-up. KBPAC-SF (Knowledge of Behavioral Principle as Applied to Children short form; Shiga,1983) and GHQ 30 (General Health Questionnaire) were used as measurement for modification of participants. ABC-J (Aberrant Behavior Checklist-Japanese version; Ono 2006) and CSBD (Criteria of Severe Behavior Disorder: Japan Ministry of Health and Labor, 1993) were utilized to measure the improvement of behavioral problems their clients. In addition, the behavioral records related to targeted behaviors on each individual with behavioral disorders were measured. After the training program, there were significant differences between KBPAC-SF and ABC-J. And many individual target behaviors improved on the recording sheet. The results indicated that the participants got more basic knowledge about applied behavioral analysis and that their clients had less behavioral problems.

This study examined the effectiveness of script-fading procedure when children with autism talked. Four boys participated in this study. They spoke their opinions, but continued saying their opinions repeatedly regardless of other's opinions. So, we taught them to reply in regard of other's opinions using a script. The script was written, for example, "saying 'I agree' when friends say some kind of opinions." We identified "scripted behaviors," "unscripted behaviors," and "novel behaviors." Scripted behaviors were identified verbal productions that matched the script. Unscripted behaviors were identified verbal productions that differed from the script by conjunctions, articles, prepositions, pronouns, or changes in verb tense. Novel behaviors were identified verbal productions that differed almost or all from the script. When the script was introduced, opinions regard of others opinions increased, and unscripted behavior and novel behavior also increased. After the script was faded, reply behaviors were maintained, and novel behavior were gradually increased. These finding suggest that script-fading procedures can increase reply behaviors regard of other's opinions and novel behaviors in social interactions.

The effects of using positive practice procedures designated as a protocol for non-compliance on acquisition, generalization, and maintenance of compliant behaviors and skills were examined within a multiple baseline design across subjects and settings. After collection of baseline data, three non-verbal young children with autism spectrum disorder were provided with positive practice protocol whenever they exhibited non-compliance. To determine maintenance effects, post-check data collections were carried out over a 2- to 3-week interval. Generalization of performance across settings of both individual sessions and group intensive sessions was assessed. Results indicated that positive practice protocol can be successfully used to promote both acquisition and generalization of compliance performance in terms that the frequencies of compliance behaviors drastically increased in reverse proportion to the reduction of the frequencies of non-compliance behaviors and the duration of positive practice procedures.

We present a case study with a four-year-old boy, diagnosed with mild ASD, with socialization difficulties. The focus of behavioral intervention (10 hours a week) was on social play programs that could establish generalized interaction with other children. The initial evaluation indicated a verbal repertoire at level II of Verbal Behavior MAPP, no correct responses on social games in baseline (except “Domino with Characters”) and excellent reading and writing repertoires (level III of Verbal Behavior MAPP). Four typical Brazilian social games were applied, two at a time: “Guess Who?,” “Domino with Characters,” “Classic Domino,” and “Memory Game.” Along 40 structured sessions, with two therapists on different days, the appropriate behaviors during the games and the rules were shaped. The procedure increased the frequency of hits, indicating understanding of the game and its rules. As shaping the criteria of playing with therapists developed, the child generalized to play the learned games with parents and friends. The games probably became natural reinforcers, allowing him to initiate interactions with peers at school and at larger social networks.

This study describes the completion of a functional behavioral assessment (FBA) comprised of indirect survey, descriptive assessment, and experimental analysis of problem behavior exhibited by an eight-year old male diagnosed with ASD in China. He is currently receiving intensive behavioral service at a center-based facility in China. The assessment was conducted locally by trainees at the center-based facility and the entire process was overseen by a Board Certified Behavior Analyst located in the United States. The agreement among the component assessments will be discussed as well the functionally based treatment design. The procedural aspects correspond to recent developments in video conferencing as the medium to conduct functional analyses remotely, and suggest further methodological refinements given the limited time for assessment completion.

The current study examined the predictive accuracy of the Multiple-Stimulus without Replacement (MSWO) Preference Assessment through a reinforcer assessment on the rate of block building with a 6-year-old boy with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This project was also to fulfill supervision hours of the Behavior Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst (BCaBA). Supervision was done remotely via real time video conferencing outside of the United States by a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). The first phase consisted of the MSWO preference assessment. The second phase began with discrete trial teachingof block building until participant can perform the task independently. Then an alternating treatment design was used in the reinforcer assessment to evaluate the reinforcing effects of the most and least preferred stimulus from the previous MSWO preference assessment. The rate of the block building was measured. Results showed an increase in participant's rate of block building with both stimulus from the MSWO preference assessment. However, the reinforcement effect of the most preferred stimulus was more robust than the least preferred stimulus.

The current study evaluated the effects of differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) and contingent exercise to reduce hand-mouthing behavior of a 14-year-old boy with autism. This project was also to fulfill the BCaBA supervision hours. Supervision was provided via video conferencing outside of the United States. Functional analysis was adapted to the 60-min time limit. Latency functional analysis was first conducted and the results showed that hand-mouthing behavior was maintained by automatic reinforcement. An alternating treatment design was used to compare the effects of two different forms of contingent exercise. One was in the form of running on the treadmill, and the other was in the form of sit-ups on a mat. During intervention, DRO was applied when hand-mouthing behavior did not occur within a five-second interval and contingent exercise was applied as a consequence. Results demonstrated that DRO with contingent exercise in the form of sit ups on a mat was more effective. Results also suggested that FA and FCT can be conducted remotely via real time video conferencing outside of the United States by a Board Certified Behavior Analyst.

The goal of the present paper was to evaluate the effects of conducting functional analysis (FA) followed by functional communication training (FCT) to reduce the problem behavior of repetitive speech of a 6-year-old girl with autism. This project was also to fulfill the Behavior Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst (BCaBA) supervision hours. Supervision was provided via video conferencing from outside of the United States. Functional analysis was adapted to the 60-min time limit for the purpose of identifying potential treatments. During intervention, the child was taught to request for preferred items, and subsequently, to tolerate delays to and denial of those items. Results showed a decrease in repetitive speech and an increase in appropriate requests and appropriate response to the delay and denial of the requested items. Results also suggested that FA and FCT can be conducted remotely via real time video conferencing outside of the United States by a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA).

Relatively few studies directly address how parent support in autism treatment should be conducted. The present study examined the impact of having the mother of an elementary school student with ASD talk about situations in which the boy engaged in behavior problems. She engaged in rebuke that was disruptive to him and made self-negative statements. She was asked to talk about situations in which he engaged in behavior problems on the basis of her records. The therapist avoided suggesting how to address the problem behavior and instead reinforced her appropriate statements. Results show that she talked about behavioral factors in which he engaged in behavior problems and coping strategies, and made more positive statements about him. In addition, the child’s behavior problems decreased. Findings have implications for the parent's decision-making regarding how and what to work on during daily intervention.

Many applied studies have shown that giving access to manipulable toys which provided the presumed source of stimulation produced by self-injurious behavior (SIB), was effective to decrease the dangerous form of self-stimulation (Shore, Iwata, DeLeon, Kahng, & Smith, 1997). The goal of thepresent study was to evaluate the interaction between SIB exhibited by a 6-year-old male with autism and the manipulation of objects that provided competing stimulation. Latency functional analysis was adapted to the 60-min time limit for the purpose of identifying potential treatments. Following the latency functional analysis, a competing stimulus assessment was conducted and an intervention was developed. Its effectiveness in decreasing SIB was evaluated using an ABAB design. During intervention, the participant was given continuous access to the competing object. After SIB decreased to near zero level, differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) was introduced. All the assessment and treatment procedures were supervised remotely via real time video conferencing outside of the United States by a Board Certified Behavior Analyst.

The current study evaluated the effects of differential reinforcement of intraverbal responses by three children with autism. The children’s ages ranged from 4 years 9 months to 6 years. A multiple baseline across subjects was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching procedure. Each session took place after participants engaged in a 5–10 minute group activity. Each child’s mom participated in the study and served as the primary listener for providing social reinforcement contingent on each intraverbal response. In this context, mom’s statement saying, “You are done with group activity,” served as the only verbal stimulus and the children were prompted by other teachers to talk about and share what they did during the group activity. During baseline, the verbal statement was given and no reinforcement was provided. During the intervention, differential reinforcement of intraverbal responses and prompting system were introduced to train intraverbal responses. The results showed an increase in the number of appropriate intraverbal responses. In addition, a cumulative number of novel intraverbal responses was observed among the three participants.

Children with autism exhibit a wide range of challenging behaviors that impact various aspects of their lives. Assessment tools such as functional analysis have assisted practitioners in providing effective function-based treatments for children with autism. Over time, functional analysis methodology has evolved to provide a more comprehensive and refined assessment leading to a more effective treatment package. The current study examined toleration of denied access with a 6-year-old boy with autism. Prior to the study, a pair-wise functional analysis was conducted. This assessment established that the problem behavior (dropping to the floor) was maintained by access to preferred locations. Following the analysis a procedure for toleration of denied access to preferred locations was introduced based on Hanley, Jin, Vanselow, and Hanratty (2014). The current procedure used a modified method of the original Hanley et al. procedureintroducing denial to preferred locations. The results showed that tolerance training along with repeated exposure to denied access to highly preferred locations was successful in reducing the child’s problem behavior.

Early behavioral intervention (EBI) is one of the most common, popular, and requested treatment approaches for young children with ASD. In Japan, EBI services in community settings are generally insufficient in terms of their quantity and quality to meet the identified needs of young children with ASD and their families, due to lack of EBI therapists. Recently, private agencies providing EBI for young children with ASD have increased. However, details of their services (e.g., therapist, program, cost, and the number of consumers) are not clarified. We have conducted a questionnaire survey at private agencies providing EBI about their services and challenges. This questionnaire survey was conducted from December 2014 to February 2015. Questionnaires were sent to 33 agencies identified as a result of a web-based survey and discussion of ABA experts. The responses for this survey were obtained from 9 agencies (27.2%). The results of the survey were as follows: (1) Agencies have provided comprehensive support programs including one on one therapy, parent training, and school consultation; (2) Agencies have utilized various techniques including DTT (nine agencies), PRT (five), and PECS (eight);(3) Most agencies have spent two 1.5–2 hours per week for therapy.

Autism has several behavioral characteristics: repetitive stereotyped behaviors; insistence on sticking to routines; unusual sensory interests; and intellectual impairment or learning difficulties. “Errorless teaching methods,’’ which are based on applied behavior analysis, are one of the systematic teaching applications used for education of children with autism. Errorless teaching is offering the equipment related to target behavior or stimulus. The possibility of the student giving a correct response is increased with promptings which are offered during teaching sessions carried out with errorless teaching methods. Students receive more reinforcers for correct responses, therefore the level of incorrect responses is low during teaching session, which results in development of a positive interaction between student and teacher. In this research,a single subject research design, multiple probe design is used. The generalization effect of the research will assessing in the form of a pre-test and post-test, discussing the organization about interpersonal skills generalization in different melody. The maintenance of learning will be checking by means of the observation sessions applied one, two, and four weeks after the practice is completed. The research was conducted with one child with autism. In research process, full probe, daily probe, teaching, observing, and generalizing sessions are organized. All of the sessions are done by one-to-one teaching method. The data of reliability among the observers and of application reliability are collecting. This research aims to teach three skills to the child with autism: discriminating and naming notes; playing the notes on the piano; and playing a little melody. Our research is ongoing.

Considering that early intensive behavioral interventions for children with autistic disorders requires the training of a large number of tutors and parents, it is important to investigate efficient training packages to teach staff and parents to implement behavioral programs. This study examined the effects of a parent training program on the acquisition and generalization of components of an intensive behavioral treatment with their child with autistic disorder. Over the course of the program, parents applied behavioral procedures (namely tact training, mand training). Parent training was conducted using instructions, demonstrations, role play and video feedback. Parents' implementation of the training programs, generalization of parent teaching skills from trained to untrained programs and children's correct and incorrect responding were measured. The results suggest that the training program is an effective tool for teaching parents of children with autistic disorders to teach verbal skills to their child. Moreover, participants' performance generalized to teaching other skills domains.

Deficits in maintenance and generalization are often observed in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Self-management is considered a pivotal skill that can generalize behaviors, support independent skills, and produce behavioral improvements across various settings for individuals with ASD (Koegel et al., 1999). A self-management procedure can be defined as a systematic procedure for modifying ones own behavior, to increase target behaviors in students with either autistic disorder or high-functioning autism/Aspergers syndrome (Southall & Gast, 2011). Self-management procedures usually comprise three primary components: self-monitoring, self-recording, and self-reinforcement/punishment. The present work set out to investigate intervention effectiveness of a self-management procedure combining self-recording, self-reinforcement and additional components (namely, contracts and token economy) on a child and an adolescent with high functioning autism and an adolescent with low functioning autism. Results highlight the different additional components of the self-management procedures required according to level of functioning within the autism spectrum and show that the self-management procedures are effective in teaching social, communication and independent skills, and decreasing repetitive patterns of behaviors for children and adolescents with ASD.

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of a parent-implemented self-management intervention incorporating video-modelling for discrimination training, on improving social skills in a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The participant was a nine-year-old girl with ASD. A multiple baseline across behaviour design (no interruption, asking for opinions, and appropriately greeting unfamiliar adults) was used to assess the effects of the intervention. Results showed (a) the intervention was associated with improvements in all target behaviours in the training setting with a strong overall treatment effect; (b) the behavioural gains were generalized to non-training settings and maintained in both fading and follow up phases; and (c) social validity measured by the Behavior Intervention Rating Scale-Adapted version (pre- and post-intervention) was high. The intervention was effective in improving social skills with this participant with good generalisation and maintenance effects and high social validity.