Association for Behavior Analysis International

A teaching methodology to increase student attending to group nouns in a group setting is proposed and evaluated. In examining the effects of antecedent auditory stimuli on the rate of attending and rate of compliance as a co-variant, a 9-year old child with developmental delays in a classroom setting was the participant in a hybrid design of alternating treatments, reversal, and multiple baselines to evaluate the effects of intervention, fading, and maintenance. Rates of both attending and compliance increased, and a discrepancy in rates during follow-up is discussed in relation to behavioral classes, chaining, adduction, and high-p low-p effects. Attending is conceptualized to e auditory and evidenced by action rather than by eye gaze.

With appropriate transition supports and training, individuals with ASDs can be viable, contributing members of their community and lead productive, meaningful lives. Similarly, unprepared special educators along with underdeveloped transition planning can contribute to poor outcomes in adults with ASDs. This study was conducted to investigate the perceptions of secondary special education teachers competencies involving transition services for students with ASDs. This study employed an online survey to collect data. The first part of the survey collected demographic information of the participants. In the second part of the survey, the participants were asked to rate themselves on the 4-point Likert Scale regarding their competency level in preparation, satisfaction, and frequency of implementation of transition-related services and supports. Both descriptive and statistical approaches were used to analyze demographic information and the ratings of the competency items. Results have shown that in general secondary special educator do not believe they are highly competent in providing transition services/supports to their students with ASDs.

Individuals with autism have challenges with executive functioning skills. Research has shown that external supports, such as activity schedules, increase independence and compliance. With mobile devices, activity schedules can be presented to individuals in a flexible and durable manner. In this pilot study, three elementary school students used a paper-based activity schedule, a technology-based activity schedule on an iPad that replicated the paper solution, and a technology-based schedule with audio and video on an iPad for the same routine. An alternating, multiple-baseline design was used to control for durable learning and maturation effects. Results demonstrated increased on-task behavior with the use of an activity schedule over none. However, there were no significant differences in on-task behavior among paper-based and iPad-based schedules. Still, preference assessments demonstrated students favored the technology-based schedules. This poster will demonstrate the need for further research in the application of technology solutions. While practitioner may anecdotally fell that technology-based interventions work better, the research in this study did not support that opinion. Behavior analysts we must partner with administrators and special educators to ensure students are receiving effective access to education. The first author of this study developed and coded the iPad applications used in this research.

A large and growing body of research has demonstrated the effectiveness of behavior analytic interventions for food selectivity and refusal. The present study evaluated the extent to which parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder found escape extinction (EE), differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA), and simultaneous presentation (SP) as acceptable interventions for child feeding problems. Parents also rank ordered the three interventions assessed, providing an understanding of the relative preference of the various interventions. Parents read vignettes depicting scenarios of a child with food selectivity (N = 31) or food refusal (N = 26), whereby an understanding of the impact of the severity of the feeding problem on acceptability and preference was also made possible. Across each group, parents preferred DRA the most, followed by SP, and finally EE. Similar differences were also found when comparing the treatment acceptability scores of each of the interventions. Differences for both preference and acceptability data were found to be statistically significant. There were no significant differences among the results for food selectivity and food refusal, suggesting the severity of the feeding problem did not seem to impact preference or acceptability. Implications for future research are provided.

Recent statistics indicate children of Latino background are diagnosed with autism at a much later age than their white counterparts (Mandell et al., 2009). Factors that impact later diagnosis include Latino parents' lack of knowledge of autism (Zuckerman et al., 2013) and overall low health literacy (Sentell & Braun, 2012). Once a diagnosis is made, it is critically important that all families have access to evidence-based interventions, including applied behavior analysis (ABA) services. However, cultural barriers such as a lack of awareness of available services, poor healthcare access and health literacy, and language barriers may impact Latino families' ability to access these services. To begin to address this concern, the purpose of this study was to obtain more detailed information about potential cultural barriers, particularly with regard to families' ability to receive and maintain ABA services. We conducted structured interviews with Latino families that had a child with autism 6 years or younger. Questions in the interview were related to the background and diagnostic experiences of the child and about the parents' perceptions of the behavioral services received. Summary results from interviews conducted to date will be presented, and implications of these findings for future research and service delivery will be discussed.

The present study evaluated the effects of tact training (labeling) when instruction was presented in English compared to instruction in two languages (English and the home language) for two participants with a developmental disability and/or a language delay that came from a bilingual home. An adapted alternating treatments design was used to compare the rate of acquisition for tacts (labels) and we examined the number of untrained listener responses (receptive language) that emerged following training in both conditions. The language abilities of each participant were assessed using a verbal behavior assessment and two standardized language assessments prior to the start of the study. Additionally, parents completed a questionnaire that sought to obtain information regarding participants exposure to English and their home language. Both participants produced more correct responses during tact training in English than during tact training in two languages. Implications of results as they relate to verbal skill acquisition for this population are discussed.

Children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder with communication impairments are often introduced to augmentative/alternative communication (AAC) systems during Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI). Some AAC systems, such as the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS; Bondy & Frost, 1994), have been extensively researched and are considered evidence based practice for individuals with ASD (Wong, 2013). However, many other AAC systems are used in clinical practice, including "low-tech" and "high-tech" picture-based systems which range from "loose variations" of PECS, to those that bear no resemblance to PECS. Despite the clinical popularity of various versions of AAC systems, little is known about the long-term effectiveness of these systems. The purpose of this study was to assess the long-term functional utility of AAC systems for adolescents with ASD. Data were collected from participants (n=4) of a larger study which explored long-term outcomes following IBI. Behaviours commonly associated with effective AAC use (i.e., spontaneity, social approach, accuracy of picture discrimination) were assessed. Performance criteria were established based on the phases of PECS. Interobserver agreement and procedural fidelity were assessed. Results indicate that participating AAC users demonstrate significant gaps in functional communication skills. Results are discussed in terms of implications for communication training.

We investigated a participant's use of target vocal mands, untargeted vocal mands, and appropriate vocalizations through three distinct phases of functional communication training (FCT) and maintenance. The participant emitted word vocalizations (relevant and irrelevant) during functional analysis, but was not proficient at emitting target vocal mands during a pre-intervention assessment. Therefore, alternative, more proficient means of communication (e.g., microswitch press and card touch) were reinforced during FCT. The participant did not emit vocal mands (functionally relevant and irrelevant) during FCT. While the participant continued to emit words during FCT, these responses decreased to 0 by the end of FCT. Both target vocal mands and other word vocalizations reemerged during maintenance sessions (i.e., alternative responses on extinction). This reemergence of target vocal mands, while not reinforced during FCT, has at least two important implications. First, it suggests that reinforcing non-vocal communicative responses during FCT does not remove vocal responses from the individual's repertoire. Second, it suggests that placing a previously reinforced non-vocal alternative response on extinction may be a way to bring about target vocal mands.

The resurgence of destructive behavior can occur during functional communication training (FCT) if the alternative response contacts a challenge (e.g., extinction). Behavioral momentum theory (BMT) suggests that refinements to FCT could mitigate resurgence of destructive behavior during periods of extinction. Following a functional analysis and treatment with FCT (Study 1), we combined two of those refinements (i.e., the use of a lean schedule of reinforcement and increased duration of treatment exposure) and compared the magnitude of resurgence relative to a condition in which FCT was implemented in a traditional manner (Study 2). Participants consisted of four individuals (ages 3 to 16) who were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and were referred for self-injurious, aggressive, or disruptive behaviors. Results for the four participants suggested that the combination of the two refinements to FCT was successful in decreasing the resurgence of destructive behavior during an extinction challenge. The limitations and implications of the results are discussed.

The present study is part of a research that evaluated the performance in equivalence task stimuli, since the matching evaluation in children with ASD. The goal of this study was to set student behavior in individuals with ASD. The set behavior was to remain seated and the non-aggression. The participants was two students, 10 and 14 years old, both of them with previous ASD diagnosis and they were evaluated about their cognitive and verbal skills since the CARS (Childhood Autism Rating Scale). Sessions were conducted inside a room of a special education school in Curitiba, Brazil, in which should stay just the children and the experimenters. It was used as procedure for installation and reduction of the target behavior, the individual reinforcement. The reinforcements were given in gaps of 10 seconds, with this gap growing up gradually. Simple tasks should be performed by the participant when was sat. Data showed that proceeding this way has minimized the aggressive behavior, which frequency gone from 9 times to 0, in a 15 minutes session, establishing the conduct of being seated for at least 5 minutes during the sessions, a conduct considered necessary to realize the purposed tasks.

Multiple (mult) schedules and response restriction (RR) are two procedures that can be used to facilitate reinforcement schedule thinning during functional communication training (FCT). However, some individuals may have difficulty discriminating between the reinforcement and extinction components during mult FCT (Fisher, Greer, Querim, & DeRosa, 2014). Fisher et al. examined the effectiveness of RR FCT with individuals who exhibited difficulty discriminating between these two components of mult FCT. Results showed that RR FCT produced high rates of correct functional communication responses (FCRs), while maintaining low rates of problem behavior. One limitation of Fisher et al. was that when teaching the discrimination, gradual stimulus-fading procedures were implemented in RR FCT, but not in mult FCT. In the present case study, we employed Fisher et al.s stimulus-fading procedures used during RR FCT to facilitate discrimination during mult FCT. The participant was a three-year old boy diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder who engaged in aggression and self-injurious behavior. Our results provide some evidence that the gradual stimulus-fading procedures implemented during mult FCT were successful in teaching the successive discrimination of the multiple schedule. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.

In the United States children with Individualized Education Plans are not required to attend standard school-based sexual education. This and other factors have resulted in many adolescents with Autism not being formally taught information related to sexual education. This program was designed to support an adolescent male in reducing public sexual behaviors in community and school settings. This person was systematically taught to identify public versus private locations and behaviors through visual performance and listener responding. Additionally a stimulus control procedure was implemented to teach the individual when and where sexual behaviors were appropriate. Results indicated a socially significant decline in the frequency of sexual behaviors, to a zero level in home and community settings. However, results from the clinical setting show a significant increase in frequency upon starting the school year.

Many children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder never acquire complex vocal language. A significant portion of these children will however learn and successfully use an alternative or augmented form of communication such as The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) or a Voice Output Device (VOD). On occasion, the prerequisite skills required to advance past phase II or phase III of PECS never develop. This program was designed to overcome communication barriers by teaching a low-functioning, seven year old boy with autism how to communicate with those around him using gestures. This individual was systematically taught gestures outlined within the firstwordsproject? in order to increase his requesting, commenting and refusals. Results indicated a socially significant increase in gestures related to requesting and refusing, however gestures related to commenting were relatively low. Results are similar to previous research designed to teach gestures to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.