Association for Behavior Analysis International

Animals exposed to uncontrollable aversive stimuli have subsequent difficulties learning escape (i.e., Learned Helplessness - LH). Antidepressant drugs, administered at shortly before escape training generally hinder LH, but little is known about the maintenance of this effect. This experiment explored the short- and long-term effects of imipramine on escape learning by rats exposed to uncontrollable electric shocks. Forty eight rats served, half of which was exposed to uncontrollable shocks while the other half remained in their homecages. After 24 hours, they were distributed in groups that received an injection of imipramine (6mg/kg), saline or no substance. The rats underwent two escape learning tests (30 minutes and 168 hours after the injection). Among the rats exposed to shocks, those treated with saline or no substance presented LH in both tests. Those treated with imipramine showed two types of result: most presented absence of LH, similar to experimentally-nave rats, whereas others presented LH. The effects of short- and long-term imipramine administration imipramine were similar. We discuss the drug effects based on different behavioral patterns produced by a history with uncontrollable shocks.

The present study assessed the possibility that rats exposed to response independent food deliveries would increase lever pressing rates correlated with the presentation of noise and stimulus changes that were previously paired with primary reinforcement. Seventy two male na?ve rats were exposed to ten 30 minute sessions where a FT 60-s schedule presented food correlated with a 3-s blackout and the operation of the food delivery magazine for the same amount of time. After the training phase was over, an acquisition phase began; subjects could receive one of four different schedules for twenty consecutive sessions: 1) CRF; 2) RF1, FT 2-s; 3) FR1, FT 5-s or 4) FR1, FT 10-s; nine subjects were exposed to each schedule. Results produced by the conditioned reinforcement conditions were compared with conditions where: 1) Primary reinforcement was delivered during the acquisition phase, 2) Blackout and magazine operation occurred during the training phase but in the absence of food, and 3) Subjects remained in the experimental chamber without any programmed stimulus presentation during the training phase. Both the primary reinforcement and the conditioned reinforcement conditions produced delay gradients; the latter was considerably steeper than the former.

Conditioned and then extinguished responses will reappear by changing background contexts. This renewal effect has been demonstrated in a variety of conditioning preparations in rats. However, to our knowledge, there have been no published studies on renewal of avoidance behavior. Because renewal effect has been considered as a source of relapse of maladaptive behavior, demonstration of renewal of rats avoidance behavior has clinical implications for relapse of pathological avoidance in phobic people. The present study consists of 2 single-subject experiments with Wistar rats in shuttle boxes. The standard signaled avoidance procedure was employed, where a warning tone was followed by an electric shock. In the acquisition phase, rats could escape and avoid the shock by moving to the opposite side of the box: the moving response stopped the tone and the shock in case of escape, while it stopped the tone and cancelled the to-be delivered shock in case of avoidance. During the extinction phase 1, the moving response stopped the tone, but the shock was never delivered. During the extinction phase 2, the tone continued for 20 s whatever the animal did, and no shock was delivered. Changing the background contexts renewed the moving responses extinguished by these procedures.

Number of Skills Assessment in Autistic Students. Camila Straforin Oliveira* (Universidade Paulista, campus Araraquara/SP), Joo dos Santos Carmo (Universidade Federal de So Carlos, SP e Instituto Nacional de Cincia e Tecnologia sobre Comportamento, Cognio e Ensino). This study investigated numerical skills in autistic students through a software tasks which provided the format pattern matching to sample and response built. The participants were four students who attended the 2nd to 5th grade of elementary school. The tasks were: identity numeral-numeral; counting numerals and quantities; numeral-quantity relationship; discrimination of numerals and quantities; comparison sets, comparing quantities, with production quantities and sequence numerals; numerical estimate; solving problems with a digit and different positions of the unknown. The tasks that generated greater accumulation of errors were: numeral-quantity relationship, comparison of sets; numerical estimate. The most common errors were: following command from the previous task to the detriment of the change in the task, not produce sequence of 2 on 2 and 3 on 3; counting inadequate, failing to identify the difference between square and rectangle. Tasks that showed lower latency and higher were, respectively, discrimination of numerals and production sequence from highest to lowest. The data suggest that tasks assist in the evaluation of numerical skills and obtaining baseline from which to practice schedule steps of generating gains mathematical of repertoire. Keywords: Numerical Skills, Autistic, elementary school, behavior analysis., behavior analysis.

The addiction researchhas been approached from different perspectives, one of which is the experimental study of the psychological processes related to the development, maintenance and modification of addictive behavior.The impulsivity and its relationship to substance use has been widely studied. Rachlin (2002) defines self-control as the ability to choose the reinforcer of greater magnitude in the long term over the less immediate reward (i.e., choose to stay sober and good health in the future on the immediate positive consequences related to alcohol). It has been identified that the mediation of a significant person through language can promote the abstinence, the moderateuse or the abuse ofsubstances. The present work aims to develop an experimental model for the study of substitutive interactions and their effect on impulsivity from the Psychological Model of Biological Health (Ribes, 1990) and the research proposal made by Pérez-Almonacid et al. (2012) .It is proposed and A-B-A design. The first phase will aim to identify the subjects responding impulsively, for what will be exposed to solve a task. In the experimental phase, subjects will be exposed to different forms of linguistic mediation by the significant other (confederate). In phase 3, subjects will be exposed to theimpulsivity scenario, in order to see if the confederate'slinguistic mediationeffectprevails. The data will be analyzed from the categories proposed by the Psychological Model of BiologicalHealth. The goals of this study is toidentify linguistic mediationsthatsignificantly reduces impulsive behaviorandthat could be used in future intervention programsthat treatsthe abuse of alcohol and other substances.

Behavior analysis has produced an increasing amount of data about cultural practices evolution. This tendency has increased due to concept of metacontingency and some experimental demonstration of cultural selection in the laboratory setting. Cultural selection usually demands a contingent relationship between interlocking behavioral contingencies (IBC), an aggregate product (AP) and a cultural event that provides selection (CE). This study aimed to experimentally investigate in a laboratory microculture the effects of two procedures of contingency suspension between AP and CE in a reversal design. The basic task consisted in selecting lines of a matrix by three participants per experimental trial (cycle). One participant was replaced by a new one each 10 cycles. Individual contingent consequences are presented due to the choice of odd lines. CEs were programed subsequently to sequences of lines formed by the individual choices (aggregate products - AP). In contingent conditions, the CE was presented contingent to AP (formed by lines with different colors) until the culture attended to the performance criterion in 80% of the last twenty cycles. The CE distribution of the last twenty cycles of first Contingent Condition was applied in the Noncontingent Condition, for 40 cycles, subsequently but not contingently to AP. Suspension Condition consisted of no presentation of CE during 40 cycles. In first Contingent Condition, predominated individual choices of odd lines and an interlocking pattern of choices. This indicated cultural and operant selection. The rate of coordinated choices found in previous condition decreased during Noncontingent Condition. However, this pattern continued to occur at a rate above chance (Rate of occurrence = 0.37 / Rate by chance = 0.22) and with an increasing tendency (35% of the first 20 cycles and 40% of the last 20). By suspending the presentation of CE, the practice became even less frequent than in Noncontingent Condition (70% of the first 20 and 50% of the last 20 cycles). In returning to Contingent Condition, the stability criterion was quickly reached. The results indicated operant and cultural selection, cultural transmission, maintenance of a cultural practice by a noncontingent cultural event and also selection and maintenance of a cultural practice by accidental relationship with cultural events

The generalized matching law (GML) is a quantitative model that describes an organism's response allocation as a function of reinforcer ratios (Baum, 1974). The equation has been used to evaluate the social sensitivity of human, for instances individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (Forget & Rivard, 2010). However, few studies have investigated to which extent the GML accounts for behavior of typical preschool children in natural settings. The current study tests the equation on three 4-5-years-old children in a day care. An experimenter observed their behaviors and their associated social reinforcers according to Caron's scale (2012) adapted from Forget's and Otis'(1984) scale. Sessionss lengths were nine minutes. Each child was observed for 240, 180 and 198 minutes over a period of two months. Results show that the GML accounts for 94%, 73% and 90% of the variance. The sensitivity values varied from 0.67 to 0.88 confirming that children allocated their responses as a function of changes in social reinforcer ratios. The study suggests that GML can be an adequate method to assess the function of social attention and is a step forward the comparison of social sensitivity of typical individuals compared to individual with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Risk sensitivity tasks study preference between at least two alternatives, one of them offering variable consequences, and the others always the same consequence. Usually, variability can be in magnitude or in the delay to the consequence. Experimental evidence shows increase preference for variable alternative with more deprivation time, specifically when the delay to the consequence is the manipulated variable. These results show the effect of the state organism over the preference, and this has been in the background of the most of theoretical explanations of the phenomena. But it is possible that other variables can explain or contribute to explain experimental evidence. In this work, we explore the novelty seeking as theoretical variable to explain risk sensitivity. With this goal, some rats were classified a priori in a novelty seeking test in LR and HR rats. After that, both groups were exposed to a risk sensitivity task manipulating deprivation level. The results show different response patterns considering LR and HR rats, but contrary to expected LR rats show more preference for variable alternative. The data contribute to a more complex map of internal and external variables that account for risk sensitivity.

The purpose of this experiment was to examine transference of feature using a sensory preconditioning procedure. Several authors have noted that features are specific to a particular CS-US association. Moreover, studies have reported effect of feature on a novel CS only if the new CS has been a target in a separate discrimination procedure. But, if a neutral stimulus becomes CS for its association with a first-order CS and this has been target in a discrimination procedure then the feature could control responses to the second-order CS. This experiment used a between-subjects design. In the first stage, rats were exposed to neutral stimuli. One group of rats (Paired) was exposed to a serial compound stimulus (AB), and a second group (Unpaired) received intermixed presentations of A and B, while the Control group did not have any training. In the second stage, all subjects were trained on a feature-positive discrimination in which B was reinforced only when the feature was present (XB+, B-). A transfer test examined whether the feature (X) modulated responding to A. The results indicate that all three groups learned the discrimination. Nevertheless, differences in the performance of subjects were not observed during the transfer test.

The resource control theory is a proposal that explains the functionality of some types of social conduct, both aggressive as pro-social. This proposal parts from an analysis of moral conduct from the perspective evolutionary, where is discussed the functionality of this type of conduct moving away with it of the traditional stance which assumes that behaviors morally adequate part of the internalization of social rules while the issuance of aggression proactive arises from the disconnection with such standards. So the resource control theory understands the moral conduct in terms in remuneration which obtains (resource control). From this perspective there are four styles of obtaining resources: aggressive, pro-social, bistrategic (which involves the use staggered of the first two) and not-controller. The present work presents an experimental task who are looking for locate the strategy employed by different participants to obtain material and social resources. This task is carried out in a video game specially developed where the participant must obtain material and social resources. It presents a series of behavioral options between which the participant must choose in order of achieve a goal specified by the game.

Competence is a recurrent concept in higher education. However, it should be noted that reflection on the field of education is hardly based on principles from behavioral science. According to the interbehavioral paradigm, the term competence describes a tendency to execute varied and effective acts based on the history of interactions of an individual in specific circumstances. A competence links aptitude and skills since it demands practice according to an efficacy criterion. In this experiment, it was evaluated the effect of contingencial situation variability while learning a competence on the transference to a more complex competence. Two tasks were designed taking into consideration differential procedures in order to promote competences with different complexity (one being more complex than the other). Participants were exposed to training with the less complex contingencial situation with different degrees of variability throughout trails. Then, it was evaluated the effect of this learning on the acquisition of the more complex task. Preliminary results showed that training in the less complex competence facilitates learning of the more complex one. Data not only would provide empirical evidence on behavioral science but also have a potential value in education specially when designing appropriate learning situations on competence educational models.

There are some evidence showing that changes in the background contextual cues in which a target cue is learned may influence retrieval of information. This experiment was designed to reproduce results reported by Leon, Callejas-Aguilera and Rosas (2012) that shows context specificity of taste aversion learning in rats. Four groups of rats received a single pairing between saccharin and a LiCl injection in context A, and then were tested either in the same context (group S) or in a different but equally familiar context (group D). Two more groups (PS and PD) were pre-exposed to the context before conditioning, and then treated as the two groups described earlier. Results are analyzed in the framework of contextual learning theories.

This experiment was designed to evaluate the contribution of low acquisition reinforcement rate on instrumental renewal. Two groups of rats were trained to press one of two response levers in a concurrent schedule. During acquisition phase, all groups were trained in context A, while the reinforcement percentage for one of the levers was 50% for Rich group and 30% for the Poor group. In extinction phase one of the responses were extinguished (50%-lever for Rich group and 30%-lever for Poor group) while the other response was reinforced with an VI 240s schedule in context B. Finally, in test phase all groups were exposed to context A whereas the reinforcement conditions of extinction phase remained. Results showed higher response rates in the Rich group than in the Poor one, suggesting that higher response rates during acquisition phase results in lever-pressing renewal.

This experiment was designed to analyze the effect of extinction plus reinforcement of discrete alternative response on instrumental renewal. Two groups of rats were trained to press one of two response levers in a concurrent schedule. During acquisition phase groups were trained in context A, while the reinforcement percentage for one of the levers was 90% and 10% for the other. In extinction phase responses to 90%-lever were extinguished, while responses to the other lever were reinforced under a VI 30s (group 30s) or 240s (group 240s) schedule in context B. Finally, in test phase groups were exposed to context A whereas the reinforcement conditions of extinction phase remained. Results showed lever-pressing renewal in both groups, suggesting that reinforcement of a competitive response during extinction does not affect instrumental renewal.

There is evidence that shows history effects (e.g. resurgence, spontaneous recovery) are controlled by previous rates of responding. In order to evaluate this kind of effects in the renewal of an extinguished lever-pressing response, two groups of food-deprived rats were trained to press two levers that delivered food on a variable interval (VI) schedule. During the acquisition phase the reinforcement percentage for one of the levers was 90% and 10% for the other in context A. In extinction phase, one of the responses were extinguished (90%-lever for Rich group and 10%-lever for Poor group) while the other response was reinforced with a VI 240s schedule in context B. Finally in test phase, groups were exposed to context A while the reinforcement conditions of extinction phase remained. Results showed ABA renewal in the Rich group, these results suggest that renewal is controlled by previous rates of responding, as well as other history effects.

It's been reported that the speed of temporal control acquisition depends on the type of training prior to Fixed-Interval introduction. However, evidence of the factors involved in the reported differences is scarce. In two experiments we evaluated the possible role of reinforcement rate and contingency during training as possibly responsible factors of the observed differences in speed of acquisition during testing on FI schedules. Groups of rats received experience with contingent or non-contingent variable interval reinforcement during training. During testing, a fixed-interval was introduced with time signaled by the reinforcer or by a tone. The prior contingent reinforcement greatly interfered with temporal control acquisition during testing with reinforcement as a signal. The most accelerated acquisition occurred with the tone-initiated interval and with prior non-contingent reinforcement, with the two other combinations producing intermediate speed of acquisition. These results are interpreted in the context of a dual-function of reinforcement in temporal control acquisition.

This study explores the use of a conditional discrimination procedure on the establishment and emergence of equivalence relations through the use of a matching to sample task that have an auditory sample stimulus, seven musical note related with its ascendent and/or descendent semi-tone, and two arbitrary visual stimuli as comparison stimuli. Ten psychology undergraduates participated in the experiment. The participants were initially divided into two groups, G1 Experimental Group, and G2 Control Group. Each participant of these groups was then randomly assigned to one of two groups G1 Exposure to feedback (correct answer/wrong answer) in the training phase and G2 don't have feedback in the training phase. The preliminary results show that in although is more difficult the establishment and emergence of equivalence relations between musical sounds and arbitrary images is possible that the stimulus equivalence could be achieved for the subjects. The findings could suggest that the use of a conditional discrimination procedure of this kind is effective and highlight the theoretical meaning of equivalence classes.

Caffeine is a common drug that is consumed by humans and nonhumans; humans consume it after processing, and non-humans ingest as a byproduct of horticulture. As such, its effects are readily available for study without adversely affecting an organism through long-term health sequelae or permanent behavior change. Behavioral pharmacology allows researchers to examine the effects of drugs on behavior. Dews (1955) pioneered the methodology for these types of examinations in behavioral pharmacology by linking the study of drug effects to operant techniques. The typical subjects for these drug studies include rats, pigeons, and humans; as such, there have been little to no research to date on the study of drug effects on goldfish using operant methodology. This poster will provide an overview of caffeine as a drug, techniques used in behavioral pharmacology, and the effects of caffeine on goldfish responding on a fixed-ratio schedule. Currently, caffeine appears to affect goldfish differently than in mammalian species.

This study investigates the properties of bubbles as a unconditioned reinforcer for the common goldfish, Carassius auratus. Previously trained responses, hoop swimming to receive food, are then placed in a contingency in which bubbles are delivered on fixed and variable ratios to determine While visual stimuli have been demonstrated as conditioned reinforcers for many marine animals, this experiment investigates the primary reinforcing qualities of bubbles through a component analysis to determine whether the bubbles do so through visual or tactile modalities Discussion of the results and the implication of using two different reinforcers for a response will be discussed regarding potential bridge studies into areas such as conditioned motivating operations and concurrent operant arrangements.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of varying the signaling and the spatial location (order and place of occurrence) of no contingent stimuli events over differential adjustment. Nine rats were exposed to three experimental conditions that were characterized by the manipulation of the spatial coordinates in which water (contextualizing stimulus) was delivered using a Fixed Time 20s schedule. In Phase 1 water was delivered only in a spatial location. In Phase 2 the water was delivered in three different spatial locations in sequential order, while in Phase 3 was delivered in random order. Three groups were differentiated depending on the signaling conditions (contextualized stimulus): (1) without signaling, (2) variable spatial contiguity between signal and water, (3) spatial contiguity between signal and water. The results suggest that the differential adjustment is affected by: (a) the consistency of the occurrence of stimuli in fixed spatial coordinates through time; (b) the conjoint occurrence of signal and water delivery location; and (c) the spatial contiguity between these stimuli. Several measurement units to identify the differential adjustment related to contextual function were proposed.

The study was conducted to extend the generality of differential outcomes effect using different sensory dimension as outcomes (visual and auditory) and a many-to-one matching-to-sample task. The group with differential outcomes showed a higher rate of acquisition and higher levels of accuracy than the group with nondifferential outcomes. The results demonstrated the differential outcomes effect when we provided sensory outcomes for correct choices rather than the usual outcomes than have hedonic values.

People with drug addiction show steeper delay discounting and probability discounting of drug and money than people who don't use drugs. Even for drug-users, drugs of abuse delayed in time are discounted more steeply than money delayed in time in a hypothetical choice task. The aim of this study was to examine whether steeply discounting of drugs relative to money might be related to the function of problematic level with drugs. Twenty adults who smoked marihuana and cocaine participated, with an age range of 18-35 years old from a lower middle socioeconomic status, all in pre contemplation stage of change, through a factorial design of two by two (type of substance per use frequency). The results showed that the discount function is more pronounced in cocaine users with severe dependence, followed by the same substance abusers, dependent on marijuana and ultimately for marijuana abusers. There were also differences between temporal curves off to money and drugs, with a steeper discounting for drugs than money. It seems that the substance can be explained and predicted by the model of temporal discounting and this measure could be a metric of impulsivity.

This work is framed in the interbehavioral approach held by Ribes and collaborators of interactive styles as an alternative to the study of personality. One of the contingencial situations proposed by these authors to analyze personality is persistence of achievement which has been defined as maintenance of performance in a signaled situation. In this ongoing experiment, a progressive ratio schedule task was used to evaluate the effect of the ratio requirement increase in the maintenance of performance. The breaking point (when participants decline responding) was used as a measure of persistence. As proposed in this line of research, participants were exposed to the task in two different moments with a time lapse of a month between them and it was not established an answer requirement (open condition). A close condition was designed in which participants were explicitly required to win the maximum of possible points. This close condition was used as an experimental control phase. Therefore, an experimental design considered two groups: one exposed to an open close condition sequence in both sessions and another exposed to the close condition at the end of session two. Data will be plotted to evaluate intraindividual consistencies across time.

The aim of the present study was to explore the differential outcomes effect in a feature ambiguous discrimination task employing same outcomes for the non-differential group. In a previous study it was reported that using mixed outcomes for the non-differential group might have caused a delay in learning the task, deriving in higher indexes for the differential outcomes group. In the present study, for the Differential Outcomes Group each lever press during A in X A type trials produced a drop of sucrose solution and during B in B type trials, each lever press produced a 45mg pellet. Lever presses during X B and A type trials were not followed by a consequence. For the Same Outcomes Group, the arrangement was the same except that during A in X A type trials and during B in B type trials, each lever press was followed by a drop of sucrose solution. Results were not consistent with the ones reported by Nakajima and Kobayashi (2000), in which subjects from the differential outcomes group had higher correct responses compared to subjects from the non-differential outcomes group (or mixed outcomes group). Sistematic research could help identify the conditions to facilitate learning in this type of discrimination task.

The aim of the present study was to identify the effects of exposing undergraduate students to technical terminology and ordinary language in order to explain psychological phenomena. Forty-five psychology students participated, distributed according to the semester they belonged to (15 from the first semester, 15 from intermediate semesters and 15 from last semesters). Participants from each grade level were assigned randomly to one of three sub-groups: G1, Technical Language Explanations; G2, Ordinary Language Explanations, and G3, Control group, no explanations. During the experimental procedure: 1) Participants were exposed to two psychological phenomena descriptions, 2) then, they were exposed to explanations about the phenomena (in terms according to the group they were assigned to), 3) participants had to write a paraphrase and 4) chose, from four different options, the best description to each phenomenon. Preliminary data suggest that students in the first and last semesters tend to use ordinary language to explain psychological phenomena, whereas most intermediate semester students tend to use technical language. The importance for Psychology students to master the technical language of their discipline is discussed.

If a constant-duration feeding opportunity is accompanied by a signal that precedes a long period without food, rats may eat more than when a different signal precedes a short period of abstinence. This effect has been called anticipatory hunger but previous research has failed to reproduce it reliably, possibly due to non-essential procedural complications. For this study, the procedure was stripped to its bare minimal operations to ascertain its existence. Three rats remained 24/7 in their respective chambers. For all rats after 3-hours of food deprivation, a 1.5-hour feeding period was allowed. Co-terminal with the feeding period, either one of two signals was presented. One signal preceded a 10-hour period of abstinence and the other a 3-hour period. After either period of abstinence free-feeding was allowed until the following day, when the procedure was repeated. The experiment lasted 20 cycles. The three rats ate more or less the same quantity of food during the daily feeding periods, regardless of the stimuli. These results add to other failed attempts to reproduce anticipatory hunger which as a set questions the existence of the phenomenon.

The language training effect in the reactive modes was evaluated on three different conditions: observing, observing-listening and observing-listening-reading on writing active mode, on a second order matching-to-sample task. This effect has been called habilitation. Twelve 4th graders of both sexes aged 9 to 11 experimentally naíve, participated in the experiment. It was used a design with a pretest, a training phase and a habilitation posttest. The results showed that the effect of habilitation was higher in writing mode when the training condition was observing-listening, this effect was lower in observing-listening-reading, and small in the observing mode when is used alone. The results suggested that the habilitation effect is greater when the three reactive modes are trained simultaneously and was included the complementary active mode. The analysis of the habilitation as a type of learning from Ribes and Lopez (1905) proposal is an alternative approach to Skinner (1957), Sidman (1994) and Hayes and Hayes (1992) among others, who have studied the verbal behavior based on morphological characteristics or from the conditions that enable its emergence. The study of this problem is important theoretically and methodologically and its applications can be extended various fields, especially education.

The current study investigated if the valence of faces expressing emotions has differential impact on latencies registered by the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP). On each IRAP trial, one sample- either the word "happy" or "angry", one target- either a happy or an angry face, and two response options- V (for true) and F (for false)- were displayed on a computer screen. In consistent blocks, trials presenting the word "happy" and a happy face, and trials that presented the word "angry" and an angry face as target demanded the choice of the option V (true). In the inconsistent blocks, the choice of the option F (false) was required for the same display. Participants yielded a positive IRAP effect: They were faster in consistent blocks. Moreover, the IRAP effect for trials involving "happy" and a happy picture was four times larger than the IRAP effect for trials involving "angry" and an angry face. A possible whole of the valence of emotional stimuli on the semantic relatedness between words and pictures is discussed.

The purpose of present research was evaluated the effect of the type of text in reading comprehension. This research is based on behavior theory, proposal for Ribes and Lopez (1985). Two types of text were used: a) the definitional text, which refers to the conventional properties of the objects, and b) the constative text, which describe the situation in which the reader interacts with the text. Six experimentally naïve students participated, both sexes, between eight and nine years old from a public elementary school. It was used a replication inter subjects design with a pretest, a training phase, a transference test and a posttest. The participants were training in reading comprehension using the five functional levels of the taxonomy of behavior theory. The correct responses of the Participants received feedback. The results suggest that students who read constative text get percentages of correct responses higher than those who read definitional texts. These results suggested than characteristic of the type of text were an important factor in the acquisition level achieved.

The purpose of the research was evaluate the effect of three learning strategies -underline, look up words in the dictionary and write notes- based on the concept of competence. It was used an experimental design with inter and intra subject groups with a pretest, a training phase and a posttest. In each test it was used a adjustment criteria to evaluate intrasituational and extrasituational aptitude levels. Twenty children experimentally naïve participated, both sexes, between ten and twelve years old from a public school from the city of Xalapa Veracruz. The results showed positive differences on the experimental group. In the posttest, it was observed higher percentages of correct responses in the differentially and precision aptitude levels than in the effectiveness level. The underline and take notes strategies showed higher percentages of performance that strategy to look up words in the dictionary. The results are discussed in the context of functional levels of the taxonomy proposed by Ribes and Lopez (1985).

The objective of the research was to develop self-control in children with overweight and obesity based on the matching law, through a choice paradigm, by manipulating the dimensions of reinforcer (Neef et al., 2001) such as reinforcer rate (R), reinforcer quality (Q), reinforcer immediacy (I), and effort (E), on the students' choices between two concurrent sets of additions that were equal on two dimensions but competed on two other dimensions. Participated 14 children aged 8 to 10 years old. The sample was divided into two groups third and fifth grade. The results indicate that the children in the third and fifth grade had a change in their preferences for healthy unhealthy foods and changes in dimensions (immediacy, effort or schedule of reinforcement). In conclusion, children of third and fifth grade with overweight and obesity were sensitive to the model of self-control based on matching law.

Research in behavior analysis has produced data showing the possibility of selection of behavior from a temporal relationship with environmental changes. Coincidences between actions and noncontingent events can also help to provide a contingency-based description to a similar effect, known as illusion of control. The objective of the present study was to investigate the motivational and instructional variables on behavior acquired and maintained by accidental relationship with reinforcement and on estimatives of control. Participants engaged in a computer task in which points were presented according to a multiple schedule with variable time (non-contingent) and extinction components (mult VT 8s EXT). In Experiment 1, two experimental conditions differed: in the first, participants received points during experimental sessions and these points were not exchangeable for nothing; in the second, points obtained in experimental sessions where exchangeable for tickets for photocopies at the end of the session. In Experiment 2 points were exchangeable for photocopies for all participants, but an incorrect instruction was introduced in a multiple baseline design. This instruction suggested that it was necessary to respond to get points. The results showed that points exchangeable for photocopies produced a higher frequency of responses, but it was not enough for consistent occurrence of accidental selection, although participants that responded at higher rates presented higher estimatives of control. Superstitious behavior was generated by incorrect instruction in Experiment 2. It has been shown that motivational and social variables can interact with the noncontingent presentation of reinforcers and facilitate both the occurrence of superstitious behavior as the overestimation of control by participants.

The academic demands coupled with low levels of social skills may indicate the onset of psychological conditions such as stress. The social skills limited repertoire can enhance the environmental stressful variables effect. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between stress levels and social skills of Brazilian undergraduate students. For this purpose it was applied the Brazilian version of the Stress Symptom Inventory by Lipp, a questionnaire on specific academic context stressors and Social Skills Inventory. Participated in this study 25 students of the Universidade Federal do Recencavo da Bahia psychology course. The results indicated that over 80% of the participants presented stress. Furthermore, over 80% of participants had high scores on social skills. The questionnaire data showed that the items mentioned as most stressful were related to classes' hour amount and schedules besides evaluation activities schedules, aspects not directly related to students' social skills. Additionally, items related to interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers when appointed as stressful were mild or moderate intensity. These data suggest that high levels of stress may be related to high levels of social skills when the most stressful factors relate to changes that do not depend on the undergraduate students' social skills individually.

Mathematics learning difficulties may appear in the first years of schooling. In behavior analysis, the number of studies on the teaching of mathematics is still small, but there are contributions that indicate relevant variables to the formation of the number concept and arithmetic skills. The present study aimed to draw up a program of assessment and teaching addition and subtraction skills. The participants were nine children in the second to fifth year of elementary school. Initially, a battery of tasks assessed the pre-arithmetic skills and the results showed that tasks involving estimative and ordering of sets produced less correct responses. The program for assessment and teaching of addition and subtraction skills was divided into three units. In unit 1, we used values from zero to ten; unit 2 involved values from ten to twenty; and unit 3, values from twenty to fifty. All tasks were conducted in computerized MTS and CRMTS formats. The program made it possible to map the participants' arithmetic skills, as well as complementing gaps in the repertoire. Teaching intermediate responses to solving arithmetic algorithms proved necessary to improve the participants' skills.

Some properties of the additive problem may cause difficulties to solve it, like: problems' presentation form, semantic structure and position of the unknown. Two experiments were conducted to investigate if the formation of sets of equivalence classes between different problems' presentation forms could reduce difficulties of students, from the 2nd to the 5th year of elementary school, with low percentages of correct responses in pretest. Eight students participated in Experiment 1. After the equivalence class formation between different forms of presentation of addition problems (numeral-problem, word-problem, collection-problem and balance-problem), there was an increase in the percentage of accuracy for all types of problems in Post-test 1. It was also assessed, in different sessions, the effects of teaching addition and subtraction algorithms for solving additive problems, followed by Post-tests 2 and 3 and generalization test. Four participants showed an increase in the percentage of correct responses at Post-test 2 and six at Post-test 3. Participants achieved 100% correct responses at generalization test. In Experiment 2, three forms of presentation (numeral-problem, word-problem and balance-problem) were used. It was produced the formation of two sets of equivalence classes (addition and subtraction). Two sessions were designed to teach participants about balance-problems operation. Eight students participated. After the formation of classes, participants increased the percentage of correct answers in Post-test 1. It was then assessed whether a practice in solving balance-problems could further improve this performance, which was confirmed. In Generalization Test 1, participants reached percentages above 75%. Then, we performed a single session for teaching addition and subtraction algorithms, which was followed by Post-test 3; there was an increase in correct responses. The generalization test was reapplied; all participants achieved 100% accuracy. The teaching procedures adopted could reduce learning difficulties in problem solving.

Many universities fail to integrate didactic teaching of new technologies of information and communication, in the curriculum proposals based on the development of generic and professional skills, it requires that teachers and students have the skills that allow them to meet the demands of society. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to evaluate the effect of a program of digital skills of two English professors about their academic, communication, digital and English teaching skills. These skills were evaluated by 26 students using a scale. A experimental design with two groups randomized subjects with pre-and post-assessments (Ary, et al 2006), was implemented. Teachers and students were randomly assigned to one of the two groups: experimental and control. The results and statistical analysis show that the professor and the students of the experimental group had higher scores on academic skills than the control participants.

We studied the effect of antecedent manipulation on aberrant behavior within a competitive game, aiming to create an opportunity to practice, rather than avoid, challenging situations. Four versions of the "Are You Square" game (Eldar, Morris, Da Costa, & Wolf, 2006, Eldar, 2008) were played for 16 weeks by 16 male high-school students. The dependent variable, aberrant behavior, was defined as: Rule violations; Passivity; Physical violence; and Verbal violence. A Multielement Design presented the aberrant behaviors emitted under the various conditions. Overall, misbehaviors were differentially affected by the different versions of the game. The highest levels of aberrant behaviors, mainly in the form of rule violations, occurred when the Intensity of the game was increased. Data from this study will be presented, followed by data revealed from similar studies, demonstrating a relation between the manipulation of game conditions and the change in participants’ behavior. An educational procedure for diagnosing and treating aberrant behavior, based on these findings, will be suggested.

In Mexico, establishing of competences in relation to health is formally initiated by Secretariat of Public Education in Preschool Education Program (PEP) 2004-2011. The study designs a Program of Health Promotion in Preschool level (PHPP), to establish and assess competencies related to health in PEP (2011). The independent variable was Program of Health Promotion in Preschool level, approach based on competencies of Tobon (2006); the dependent variable was level of achievement in the execution of competences in preschool children in second grade, obtained in the Matrix of Competencies founded in PEP (2011). The hypothesis was, if level of achievement in the execution of competencies in health promotion for children in second grade preschool, exposed to PHPP would be higher, in comparison to achievement in children who not receive PHPP. The PHPP used an experimental design of Pre and Post-test with two randomized groups: control and experimental group with 8 children of second grade from preschool, both groups chosen at random from a kindergarten in Xalapa city, Ver. Results showed in graphical analysis the difference between groups. Two-Sample t-Test for Correlated Samples reported p<0.001, proving the hypothesis of the study.

Reading and numeracy teaching programs in natural environments rarely apply the concept of equivalence paradigm and matching to sample procedures to teach basic skills in these two areas. The present study presents an individualized behavioral teaching program with a 7 years old boy with atypical development at his own home, four days a week. The objective of the program was teaching gradually basic skills in reading and numeracy that were not present in the repertoire of the child. Baseline data showed systematic errors and random performance in reading, as well as in counting and identifying numbers. The procedure included trial type learning with matching to sample, through computer presentation. Eleven words were taught in three months, in the following relations: 1) match the oral name of words (spoken by the teacher), with its written names (AC relation); 2) match oral name of words with its picture (AB relation); 3) match pictures of written words with the correspondent written words (BC relation); 4) match written words with its correspondent pictures (CB relation); 5) say the name of written words loud (CD relation); 6) construct anagram of the name of written words (CE relation); 7) match oral name of pictures with pictures (relation BD). A token system for reinforcement of correct responses (FR5) was applied. Results of the first month on reading show an average of 85% of correct independent responses in four relations (AB, BD, AC, CD) and difficulties in BC, CB and CE relations (around 20% of correct responses); in the second month, the good scores were maintained and the low ones changed to 60% of correct responses; in the third month all the scores reached an average of 90% of correct responses. For numeracy program an even quicker progress was obtained. It is concluded for the efficiency of both programs and a process of learning set emerged in child’s reading behavior.

Indirect functional behavior assessment instruments are used to preliminarily identify potential functions of behavior and have only been available in English. This study developed a Spanish version of the Questions About Behavioral Function (QABF) indirect assessment instrument. Forward and back-adaptation committees were used in the translation process. Subsequently, the QABF and the QABF-Spanish (QABF-S) were administered to a group of 80 bilingual participants to assess both the reliability and validity of the assessments. A factor analysis yield four factors that were consistent with the four subscales examined in this study. Reliability coefficients were good for the attention, escape, and tangible subscales on both the QABF and QABF-S, but were poor for the nonsocial subscale on each instrument. A second experiment was conducted to analyze the convergent validity between the QABF-S and functional analyses results with clients in the natural setting. Results, limitations and future research is discussed.

Social network advertising is a term that is used to describe a form of online advertising that focuses on social networking sites. This study seeks to expand our understanding of the impact social network advertisements has on a target segments behavior. Skinner (1957) defined verbal behavior as behavior that is reinforced through the mediation of another person's behavior. Verbal behavior is, therefore, operant behavior. By this means that verbal behavior refers to all vocal, written and signed behavior where this particular behavior is reinforced by another person. A social network advertisement campaign was arranged (A-B-A-B design) to increase traffic from a social network site to a website that provide the public with information and counseling service regarding alcohol, drugs and substance abuse. The website's target group is youth experimenting with drugs and their parents. Results shows that traffic to the website was significantly higher in the campaign weeks (week 10 and 12) compare to the weeks without any advertisements (week 9 and 11). We also find that the verbal stimuli that were used had different impact with regards to traffic increase. The results will be discussed in relation to the concept of verbal behavior.

In this moment many companies at Mexico are planning to downsize their labor force but, what happens with the people that remain in the company? When the organization suffers structural changes the employee is forced to move from their comfort zone and to relearn new behavioral codes. The employees can have a different perception of their tasks and about themselves within the organization; causing a serious behavioral and emotional outbursts. This make stress level up in the organization and they must have to cope with stress of the new task the must do and the old ones. A coping plan designed to specific positions in the company can make the area more productive in the case of errors.

The purpose of this case study was to showcase the monetary value of using behavior management, and hopefully for different Norwegian organizations to obtain a broader understanding of the benefits. Traditionally banks operate with goals for the present year based on last year's figures. In January 2011, the Norwegian consulting company, Maze, implemented a performance management intervention in a Norwegian bank. The behaviors of sales advisors with the highest number of meetings and sales represented best practices and were used to set the standard for what was expected of every sales advisor. The intervention, initiated by the new region bank manager included an assessment of key behavior indexes and incorporating these in measurable goals of e.g. ten weekly costumer meetings for every sales advisor across all offices in the region. Independent variables used were computer based feedback system, monetary incentives and antecedents. The number of beam products sold in costumer meetings and number of costumer meetings were the dependent variables. The analysis indicates an upward tendency after the implementation in both number of meetings held, and goal attainment in terms of beam products sold.

The purpose of this research was to analyze binge eating behavior and the quality of life in obese adults. There were 94 participants (24 adult male and 70 adult women) who were recruited in a health center, with an average age of 39.05 years (SD = 8.98) and with an average body mass index of 35.2 (SD = 4.7). The participants were asked to answer the Questionnaire of Eating and Weight Patterns and the World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire. The results showed that 29% of the sample reported binge eating behavior (30% women and 29.2% men). The level of quality of life for total sample was moderate, people with binge eating presented significantly low scores in physical and psychological domains of quality of life in comparison with people without binge eating behavior. Quality of life domains were strongly negatively correlated with measure of binge eating in the group with binge eating behavior, highlighting the association with the physical and psychological domains and the total score. In conclusion, quality of life was significantly impaired among obese people with binge eating, compared with obese people without binge eating.

In this campus (UNAM), there are six careers related to biological and health sciences. There has been an increase in the rate of consultations at the Psychology Clinic service, required by students. Depression in college students might become a relevant problem, due the hopelessness of an adequate academic performance, coupled to the psychological and emotional malaise. On the other side, according with Beck, Rush and Shaw (1979), the etiology implied into a suicide attempt is a continuum, in which special attentiveness must be focused on desire and plans to commit it (suicide ideas). Thus, the major goal for this study was to know the current prevalence of depression symptoms and suicidal ideation in students of this campus (4th and 8th semester grades), as well as the correlation between variables and other characteristics (N= 251). BDI and IOS were administered to volunteers. Statistical analysis showed a negative moderate correlation between variables (r=-.404; p<.01); mostly, normal and mild levels are present in depression, and moderate and high levels in sucidal ideation, ponting quite differences among careers.

Today the health problems related to sexual behavior of young people has captured the attention of various specialists, given the significant increase in unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV / AIDS. The health psychologists have responded by promoting healthy behaviors among youth and generating research that explains the behavior of risk. Researchers in the health field have proposed various models (Health Belief Model, Reasoned Action, etc), which allow to know the psychological variables associated with risk behavior. The Psychological Health Model Biological proposed by Ribes (1990) and Contingential Analysis (Diaz Gonzalez 2002, Rodriguez, 2002) as analytical system, both development on a interbehavioral support, allow us to study the competences of an individual against a risk situation, specifically environmental and individual factors that facilitate or interfere with the occurrence of risk and preventive behaviors. The main purpose of this work was to assess the relationship between dispositional factors of the individual and the environment (place, socially expected behavior, social circumstances, propensities and inclinations), mediational behavior and beliefs as elements of macrocontingential analysis, with the consistency and inconsistent condom use as an indicator of preventive behavior. 939 sexually active college students participated. We assessed variables related to dispositional factors, mediation and beliefs. Also the participants were classified as consistent and inconsistent in the condom use. The results showed differences in the role played by each of the elements of the microntingential analysis and mediation for condom use in consistent and inconsistent participants. The concept of competence allows us to study these factors as interactions, that is, as factors that interfere or facilitate the occurrence of healthy behaviors.

Stimulus equivalence demonstrates untrained stimulus-stimulus relations that emerge from stimulus-stimulus training (Sidman, 1971). His research proved to be influential in basic and applied research in a many areas such as reading, language arts, and mathematics; however little research exists on using stimulus equivalence training to teach a second language to children with Autism. The current study uses stimulus equivalence to teach a second language, to a child with Autism in order for her to communicate with her monolingual parents. The participant is a 7-year old girl diagnosed with Autism who primarily communicates in English. A pre-test was administered to determine Spanish-vocabulary baseline. During baseline, the participant demonstrated the use of only two Spanish words. Parents were surveyed to determine which Spanish words would be used most commonly in the natural context. Sixty words were identified and categorized into six subsets: numbers, foods, actions, emotions, clothing items, and essential household items. Participant was directly tested to show the trained relations in the presence of an auditory stimulus. In Phase 1, the participant was trained from the spoken word in English (A) to the picture of the word (B). In Phase 2, the participant was trained from the spoken word in English (A) to the written word in English (C). In Phase 3, the participant was trained from the spoken word in English (A) to the spoken word in Spanish (D). Once the participant demonstrated acquisition of the Spanish word based on mastery criteria, new words were then introduced. The results of using stimulus equivalence to teaching a second language to children with Autism are useful and promising. The participant expressively states her age, date of birth, address, and telephone number in Spanish upon request in the presence of her parents. Limitations and future research should include training more children, training children of different ages, and/or using stimulus equivalence to teach another language other than Spanish.

Although there is little experimental research about verbal behavior as context or consequence to other behaviors, usually they are regarded as part of the "verbal regulation" area of research. This study aimed to replicate the experiments performed by Valdivia et al. (2006). The subjects were four participants aged between 6 and 7 years. The procedure consisted in the use of two experimental protocols, made of two stories, one about physical restraint and the other about itch, both contextualized and decontextualized. Both stories contained autoclitics. The results showed that both contextualized and decontextualized experimental protocols evoked, with few variations, verbal and nonverbal responses related to sensations of itch and physical restraint, respectively. These findings indicate that the different verbal contexts manipulated by Valdivia et al. (2006), and replicated here, did not produce difference in motivational states of the four participants across the two experimental sets. Thus, the responsible variable for producing changes in subjects' motivational states was the use of autoclitics, maintained on both experimental protocols.

Those studying perspective taking do so from several different theoretical frameworks, most of which view this skill as a function of biological or natural development (Howlin, Baron-Cohen, Hadwin, 1999; Selman, 1980; Yeates & Selman, 1989). Theory of Mind (ToM) is a construct researchers have been investigating since the 1970s which suggests that perspective taking is based on an ability to see oneself and others in terms of mental states of mind (e.g., desires, intentions, emotions, beliefs, etc.). Behavior analysts have developed protocols to train deictic relational frames to those who have deficits. Of these there are three studies that best demonstrate a behavioral account of perspective taking abilities (McHugh, Barnes-Holmes & Barnes-Holmes, 2004a; McHugh, Barnes-Holmes, Barnes-Holmes & Stewart, 2006; Weil, Hayes & Capurro, 2011). At present, a number of studies have used computers to assess or train deictic relational responding (McHugh et al., 2004a; Rehfeldt, Dillen, Ziomek, & Kowalchuck, 2007). The goal of this research project is to systematically extending Weil et al. (2011) by investigating whether deictic relations can be trained via a computer, and secondarily the implications such training may have (e.g., developing a theory of mind).

The Tower of London (TOL) is a tool that involves moving a series of disks based on an initial model to end in a final state. This task was developed with the primary purpose of investigating different cognitive resources that people use to solve the task such as planning behavior and executive behavior. The objective of this research was to compare in adults and children, their verbal strategies through retrospective protocols and the executions to the task, using a computerized version of the Tower of London. Participants were exposed to a session of 24 trials of training in three levels of difficulty and continuous feedback, and two test sessions of 12 trials each. In test 1 performance was evaluated without feedback, in two difficulty levels not trained; while in the second one, transfer was tested to untrained figures. At the end of each session were asked the participants the following questions: 1. What was the best strategy used to reach the goal, 2. If he thought something before responding and, 3. How would you explain to another task. The results showed significant differences in the dependent variables as well as the quality of verbal report.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of community-based job training on the acquisition of apartment management skills of a student with intellectual disabilities. The participant was a high school student with intellectual disabilities who showed behavioral patters of autism. The target behavior which was the acquisition of apartment management skills consisted of three sub-skills: apartment cleaning, managing skills of entrance and exit, and parking management skill. The multiple baseline across behaviors design was used to investigate the effectiveness of the training program. The community based job training program used multiple instructional strategies such as task analysis, direct instruction, prompting, video modeling, role playing, self evaluation, token enforcement. The training program consisted of both community based teaching and classroom teaching. The result of the study indicated that all three sub-skills of the target behavior were successfully acquired by the participant. Also, the newly acquired skills were maintained following the termination of the intervention and generalized to different environmental settings. The result of the study were discussed in the perspective of transition education and functional life skills for students with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

Establishing communicative repertoires in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is an important issue mainly for two reasons: in first place, because deficits in communication skills is an indicative of the difficulties in the adulthood; in second place, it permits an improvement in social interaction with parents, relatives and teachers. The present experiment aimed to teach repertoires of mands in an experimental setting and evaluate generalization skills in two different environments, namely, at school and at home. Repertoires of mands were established using the first three phases of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). Four children with ASD and ages raging from seven to 12 years old were recruited as participants. The procedure consisted in a systematic teaching of the first three phases of PECS and subsequent evaluation for generalization skills at school and at home. Data in the environments used in the generalization tests were obtained using teacher and mother speechs. The results showed that three children were capable to acquire repertoires of mands when the variability of visual stimuli and the reinforcers effectiveness were controlled. Repertoires of mands learned in the experimental setting were generalized to school and home. Our findings suggest that a greater variable control in teaching procedure is needed to establish mands and generalized skills in the repertoire of children with ASD.

In the current research, we explored the efficacy of using video modelling to teach parents of children with autism to use effective instructional methods when teaching functional daily routines. We also examined the cultural responsiveness of video modelling. Parents from three distinct cultures residing in Canada and Hong Kong were recruited to teach their children with autism to complete the hand-washing routine independently using visual supports. We used a multiple baseline across participants design, and conducted a general case analysis to create three short video models. A researcher met with each participant at the outset of the study to view the videos together, to clarify the procedures, and to address any questions. Participants were then asked to view the videos daily and implement the strategies with their children over a two-week period. Researchers visited the participants home twice a week for data collection, during which time no further consultation was provided. We sought to demonstrate a functional relation between video modeling and the participants acquisition of the instructional technique. In addition, data on generalization, social validity, and family quality of life were collected. Implications of this research, in terms of establishing an effective and culturally responsive parent training tool, are discussed.

Given the universal coverage of Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI) for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in rehabilitation centers in Quebec (Canada) and the growing number of immigrant families receiving these services (around 20%), it is crucial to document the factors leading to an optimal application of EIBI for these families, children and stakeholders. Those families experience more challenges in their access to services as well as during the implementation of services. It is important to develop ways to better support and encourage their involvement to maximize their child's response to intervention. This research consists of three consecutive studies, which will be completed in two rehabilitation centers that have experienced large waves of immigration. The first study aims to portray families from ethnic minorities with respect to their immigration context, their trajectory services and their perceptions on various aspects related to ASD services. The second study aims to document the perceptions of managers, professionals and educators on different aspects related to EIBI and work in multiethnic family background. A third study has the objective to build and evaluate a support program that is responsive to the needs of families from ethnic minorities in the process of receiving EIBI services. This poster present the context and the design of the three studies and presents the preliminary results of the first one. The first study begin in summer 2013.

Many children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have impairments associated with the use of verbal communication. As a result, Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) methods are frequently utilised. Research investigating the acquisition and use of AAC is emerging however, few studies have identified whether these newly acquired skills are then generalized, and whether this is associated with rate of acquisition and/or student preference. The purpose of this study was to compare the acquisition of three different AAC methods, to examine children’s preference for the use of these methods, and to assess generalised use of each of these methods across settings, and people. Using a multiple baseline alternating treatments design across participants, four children with ASD were taught to mand for preferred items using a Speech-Generating Device (SGD), Picture Exchange (PE), and Manual Sign (MS). Preference assessments were conducted in order to determine whether the participants had a preference for either of the three methods of communication. Generalisation to a novel setting and people, was then assessed for each device. This paper will present the findings of this study. This study extends upon previous research in this field by identifying whether there is a relationship between acquisition, preference, and the likelihood of generalisation.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of the graduated guidance with video modeling and only video modeling for teaching pretend plays to children with autism. An adapted alternating treatments design was used in this study. Each participant was taught a couple/a pair of pretend plays preferred by the teachers and parents in this study. One of the skills was taught via graduated guidance with video modeling, another skill was taught via only video modeling. The effectiveness results of the study showed that three of the four participants learned the target pretend play skills via both of the teaching procedures as to meet the criteria. Although the fourth participant met the criteria in a pretend play delivered by the graduated guidance with video modeling, he showed only limited learning via the delivery of only video modeling. When the two teaching procedures were compared in terms of efficiency, graduated guidance with video modeling was found to be more efficient than only video modeling. Families and post graduate students reported positive opinions about the teaching process used in this study. In accordance with the results of the study, suggestions were made for procedures and future studies.

Training staff in human service agencies to reliably and accurately implement behavioral-based skill building programs and behavior plans is critical for ensuring client success. Most new staff have varying degrees of skills and are required to participate in all of the agencies training and orientation protocol, regardless of individual competence. This approach may ensure a shared base-level of competence, but may not be the most efficient. This study examined the effects of a protocol that matched new staff members training needs to their level of competence upon hire. Fifteen staff members completed the experimental training protocol which consists of a) independently viewing 11 video modules, b) completing guided notes, and c) taking quizzes on basic behavioral practices. Skill proficiency was re- assessed during in-vivo observations and a behavioral skills training package (i.e., instructions, modeling, rehearsal and feedback) was administered if needed until competency was achieved (i.e., 90% or greater over all targeted skills across 2 clients). Staff all successfully met the proficiency criteria and maintained the skills. Results will be discussed in relation to the efficiencies that were obtained from the new staff training protocol in comparison to the agencys previous protocol.