Association for Behavior Analysis International

We will highlight the main objective and the four missions of our SIG. That is, to bring together researchers, academics, clinicians, and students interested in the intersections of behavior analysis and neuroscience and to: (1) introduce behavior analytic research to the neurosciences and vice versa; (2) provide a meeting place and training environment for students and professionals alike interested in basic and applied neuroscience research; (3) provide a forum for collaborative relationships and the sharing best practices; and (4) advocate for and promote high standards in the application of behavior analytic treatments for individuals with neurological dysfunction. Those interested in contributing to our efforts in increasing the relevance and visibility of this SIG or with ideas for initiatives to do this are encouraged to attend the business meeting.

The SIG promotes behavior analytic empirical and conceptual analyses of issues related to behavioral development, and it encourages examination of how methodological and theoretical positions outside behavior analysis approach these issues empirically and conceptually. These kinds of analyses have often dealt with complex kinds of behavior such as stimulus equivalence, relational frames, language, and problem solving, as well as normal and problematic feeding behaviors and social interactions, and with historical bases of behaviorism and behavior analysis as basic science and applied practice. The Business Meeting will review activities over the last year and discuss plans for the next.

The meeting will serve has the annual business meeting for the chapter. All necessary and pertinent chapter business will be discussed, included membership, conference development, and updates to the constitution and bi-laws.

The Behavioral Medicine SIG of ABA-I focuses on the application of behavior analytic methodology to the prevention and treatment of behaviors associated with chronic illness and disease, and the promotion of behaviors associated with improved health and treatment adherence. The role of behavior analysis is important in the field of behavioral medicine. It is the mission of the SIG to encourage interdisciplinary research in the areas of behavioral health promotion, emphasizing the need for function-based and empirically validated treatments for chronic health disorders. The Behavioral Medicine SIG offers students, researchers, practitioners, and consumers opportunities to discuss issues related to public health promotion and disease prevention. All are welcome to join the Behavioral Medicine SIG. We hope that the SIG will help consumers and practitioners better understand the role of behavior analysis in the field of behavioral medicine, and provide an outlet for discussions of current and developing research within the field. The annual business meeting is open to all conference attendees interested in behavioral health and medicine. The meeting will be conducted to discuss various administrative matters relevant to the Behavioral Medicine SIG. Goals include: voting on SIG officers, discussing methods to increase communication and research collaboration among SIG members, and enhancing benefits of SIG membership.

Revive and refresh from the busy conference with this yoga session open to all. No experience necessary to participate. A certified instructor will take you through this 1 hour long mixed level yoga class. Bring a mat or towel and wear comfortable clothes (no shoes).

This is an open meeting sponsored by the Behavior Analysis Accreditation Board (BAAB) to disseminate information to non-U.S. programs interested in pursuing accreditation with the BAAB. All are welcome to attend.

A meeting of board members to discuss the annual convention program.

Children with autism often avoid engaging in play activities with typically developing peers. The purpose of this study was to identify the utility of photographic activity schedules, with embedded scripts, to teach three children with autism to play a complex social game. In this study we used activity schedules to train children with autism to play hide-and-seek in a group with typically developing peers. Once the activity schedules were introduced all of the participants were able to play hide-and-seek. A secondary purpose of this study was to systematically fade the activity schedules to the least intrusive version necessary. We were able to fade all of the scripts and several components of the activity schedules. The participants were able to continue to play hide-and-seek with the faded versions of the schedules, in a novel environment and 2-weeks after treatment concluded.

Children with autism often engage in repetitive behaviors and often have restricted interests. In the classroom, these features may inhibit a child's ability to vary the types of academic games they engage in. This may be particularly difficult for a child when he or she has access to items that are more preferred than academic games, such as an iPad. The purpose of this study was to embed an activity schedule within an iPad and examine the effects of that activity schedule on promoting varied application engagement with three children with autism. During baseline, participants engaged in only one application and did not vary their play. When participants were taught how to follow the activity schedule, which was embedded within the iPad, they varied their play between four applications. When the activity schedule was removed, all three participants engaged in responding that was similar to baseline. Responding increased and maintained when the activity schedule was re-introduced.

The current research describes the evidence for the British Early Special School Teaching Model (BESST), which aims to provide an education based on the principles of ABA to all young children enrolled in a special needs school.TheBESSTmodelcanbeimplementedeffectively and affordably making it available to all children who would benefit. Behaviour analysts work in a multi-disciplinary context to provide an education based on the principals of Applied Behaviour Analysis to children under the age of seven years old. Children receive 7 hours a week of 1:1 teaching, which is supplemented by group teaching. Each child has an individualised behaviour plan. Interventions are designed by Behaviour Analysts and implemented by teaching staff. Outcome data from the Vinelands Adaptive Behavior Scales, the Stanford Binet Intelligence Scales, and the Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills Revised will be presented for 13 children ages 4-7 years old. Results show that children make statistically and clinically significant gains within this model. We will discuss the data in context of providing cost effective behavioural interventions in maintained special educational needs school in the United Kingdom.

Effects of continued behavioral intervention into school age for children with developmental disorders We found better outcome in intelligence and adaptive behavior scores for those children who continued to receive behavioral intervention in school compared to those children who ended their intervention. We compare the two groups of children during intervention in preschool, at eight and nine years of age. The group of children (n=12) who received behavioral intervention in school continued to gain in intelligence and adaptive behavior scores, whereas the group that stopped (n=10) lost points. This finding supports the hypotheses that behavioral intervention can continue to benefit some children with autism and other developmental disorders well into school age. We have not been able to detect any clear indications for stopping behavioral intervention, although it appears that children with scores in the normal range have more stable scores.

This paper reports long-term outcome for 19 children with ASD who initially received EIBI and subsequently received long-term school- and home-based behavioral intervention. Mean intake age was 2 years and 11 months and mean follow-up age was 14 years and 11 months. Mean intake IQ was 55, IQ after one year of EIBI was 78, and mean follow-up IQ was 68. Mean intake Vineland Adaptive Behavior (VABS) Score was 64, VABS after one year of EIBI was 74, and VABS at follow-up was 70. Eleven of the 19 children received an IQ score and VABS score of 70 or above (Mean IQ 94 and mean VABS 86). Autism symptoms at follow-up (as assessed by the ADI-R and the CARS) is presented, so is data on the type of services the children had received after EIBI.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) reports that one in four thirteen-eighteen year olds has had an anxiety disorder in their lifetime. In 1998, Friman and colleagues encouraged behavior analysts to study anxiety but very few behavior analysts have done so. Anxiety creates a unique set of prior learning experiences, discriminative stimuli for reinforcement and punishment, and establishing operations. In this tutorial, a behavioral analysis of anxiety-related behaviors including the identification of: the effect of prior learning history of reinforcement and punishment for anxiety-related behaviors, discriminative stimuli that signal anxiety-related behaviors and establishing operations for anxiety-related behaviors will be provided. When anxiety-related behaviors are due to skill deficits, explicitly teaching coping skills, self-monitoring, and alternative responses is crucial. Using antecedent interventions with these children may be more effective than reward and punishment-based consequences from traditional behavior plans. The reduction of self-reported anxiety-related behavior by use of antecedent management and explicit instruction in self-regulation and self-monitoring strategies will be discussed.

BCBAs, psychologists, counselors, health care providers, social workers and/or teachers who serve children with developmental disabilities or children who are typically-developing who exhibit anxiety-related and challenging behaviors.

With the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requiring public school settings to provide least restrictive environments for students with disabilities, behavior analytic work within these settings is impacted by the increased complexity of clinical cases. In addition, IDEA requires the use of evidence-based practices in public school systems. Consequently, it is important for clinicians to utilize the most contemporary, effective, and efficient assessment and treatment tools available. Functional analysis methodology has time and time again proven to provide conclusive results regarding the function of behavior, and led to interventions informed by this clear understanding of behavior. Recent research in the area of functional analysis has included modified functional analyses, latency-based functional analyses, analyses of response classes and precursor behaviors, as well as methods for training public school staff to be involved in assessment. The expansion of the literature has made functional analyses more efficient and accessible in public school environments. With easier to access methods and clear conclusions regarding behavior, the role of functional analysis models and their effects on treatment decisions in public school settings is an important issue for behavior analysts to consider in their practice.

Precursor behaviors are those which both precede, and often predict the occurrence of a target response (Fahmie & Iwata, 2011). It is frequently assumed that precursor behaviors are part of the same response class as those behaviors that they precede. The role of precursors in treating potentially dangerous behavior such as self-injury, has received high levels of attention in the research, as responding to precursor responses may interrupt or decrease the probability of higher intensity behaviors (Herscovitch et al., 2009). In the current study, a brief functional analysis with a latency analysis, was conducted in a public school setting, to evaluate the degree to which precursor behaviors were part of the same response class as self-biting in a 9-year-student with Angelman syndrome. Data showed that precursor behaviors functioned as part of the same response class as self-biting. The shortest latencies to pre-cursor responses occurred during the tangible condition as compared to the attention, demand, and control conditions. While many other treatments had failed to effectively reduce self-biting, these data led to a treatment in which pre-cursor behaviors were reinforced as a method to effectively decrease self-biting across environments. These data show the importance of both assessing and treating precursor responses, particularly when faced with dangerous behaviors.

This presentation will show how teachers can incorporate tenets of behaviorally informed instruction to maximize the effectiveness of digital technology in the classroom. Several free technology tools that help teachers meet the same challenges of group instruction described in the preceding presentation will be demonstrated with audience members as students. Attendees will receive information for accessing each of the tools presented.

In the United States, every student has the right to a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment possible. The least restrictive environment, inclusion into the general education setting, allows for students to learn the academic and social repertoires necessary for educational success in the presence of general education peers. However, for students with disabilities, there are many obstacles that prevent them from fully accessing the general education curriculum. The CABAS Accelerated Independent Learner Model (AIL) has identified verbal developmental cups/capabilities and academic literacy skills that increase the likelihood of academic and social success for students with disabilities in an inclusive setting. Through implementing protocols to induce the relevant cusps, capabilities, and skills, the AIL model has created procedures through which students are taught the necessary skills to be successfully included into the general education setting. The purpose of the present discussion is to explain the cusps/capabilities necessary for inclusion, the ways in which students are instructed in order to increase their likelihood of success, and the criterion utilized to allow students access to the general education setting.

Effective supervision is vital when delivering quality applied behavior analysis services. However, understanding and adhering to the BACB experience standards in addition to providing effective supervision can be a challenging endeavor for behavioral practitioners at all levels. This panel will discuss two critical levels in which the provision of quality supervision is required, line therapists and supervisors. Important questions will be reviewed, such as how to select the right therapists for an ABA organization and how to ensure that supervisors are providing quality supervision. Moreover, the panel will discuss the utility of organizational behavior management and the role of a leadership team in building and implementing performance management systems that can significantly impact the efficacy of supervision, which in turn, can impact the quality of service. Each member of the panel will present systems used at each respective level, discuss findings, and contribute their own unique experiences as they pertain to each of these key areas.

A bevy of current methodological topics relevant to psychological researchers working in diverse areas is presented. Many of them are widely misunderstood. Among these topics are: (1) the recent efforts to ban null hypothesis significance tests (NHST), (2) interpretation problems surrounding both conventional (i.e., Fisher and Neyman-Pearson) and Bayesian statistical inference, (3) the relationship between p-values and replication, (4) unjustified hand wringing regarding effect declines (often claimed to cast doubt on scientific methods in general) that appear to occur in many or most areas of science, (5) the increasing salience of single-case research designs and associated analyses, and (6) the stunning effect of complex black-box statistical methods on judgment. The historical context for several of these topics is presented in order to facilitate an understanding how we have ended up in our current state.

Behavioral researchers with a strong interest in research methodology.

This symposium will include recent research on the assessment and treatment of problem behavior with a focus on implications for practice. The first study will present the translation process that was undertaken to produce a reliable and valid indirect assessment in Japanese. The second paper, will highlight the development and utilization of a flow-chart for interpreting transitional functional analyses. The third paper, will present on the effects of an FCT+DRA intervention aimed at decreasing problem behavior maintained by social negative reinforcement, while increasing both communication and compliance. All presenters will provide insight on implications related to both future research and practice.

Functional Communication Training with extinction is one approach to eliminating problem behavior and increasing appropriate behavior. When applied to problem behavior maintained by social positive reinforcement, it produces rapid decreases in problem behavior as well as socially significant increases in appropriate behavior (e.g., asking for attention or tangible items). It is equally effective for eliminating problem behavior maintained by social negative reinforcement in the form of escape; however, most caregivers are not satisfied with only increasing asking for a break. In fact, when treating problem behavior maintained by escape from tasks, socially significant behavior changes would include increasing compliance as well as asking for a break. The purpose of this study was to utilize FCT (1 min break) + Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior (5 min break contingent on compliance) to decrease problem behavior and ultimately increase compliance. Results demonstrate that the intervention was highly successful. Implications for practice as well as avenues for future research will be

Supervision is a critical component of the development of future practitioners of applied behavior analytic services, and required for all individuals seeking credentialing in ABA. All future professionals seek excellence in supervision, however, despite increasingly structured guidelines provided by certification and licensure organizations, variation exists in the quality and rigor of supervision experiences. Indeed, not all supervision experiences are created equal. For those developing or supporting supervision for the future behavior analyst, minimal guidance exists thus far in behavioral literature related to effective supervision management. Related disciplines have much to offer in the development of quality supervision models, and behaviorally-based literature related to training and instruction, specifically, literature on competency-based training and behavioral skills training models, can support and strengthen the development of quality supervision experiences. Finally, invested constituents have beneficial feedback to add to the supervision process. This symposium targets the developers of supervision in ABA, offering models and guidance for creating quality supervision experiences.

Bridging the gap between theory and applied practice can pose a challenge for many graduate Applied Behavior Analysis students. Employers of these scholars face the unique challenge of accommodating rigorous supervision requirements, changing course schedules and other graduate work commitments that often complicate the landscape. This presentation will discuss several strategies that employers can utilize to support graduate ABA students as they progress through the supervision requirements associated with eventual Board Certification. Specific examples of employer driven initiatives to improve quality of services provided, employee retention, and outcomes for graduate students will be provided. Methods to incentivize employees considering graduate coursework to create a larger more diverse pool of productive clinicians will be reviewed. Finally, opportunities for collaboration with local college programs and course sequences will be discussed with the ultimate priority being the quality of the overall experience for both the student and recipients of the behavior analytic services they provide.

Modeling is a component of Behavioral Skill Training, and has been shown to be effective in evoking desired behavior. Modeling, both in live and video formats, has been incorporated into many models of training successfully. Evidence suggests, however, that modeling is often omitted from supervision experiences, particularly when distance or remote supervision is utilized. This presentation reviews strategies for successfully incorporating modeling into supervision sessions for applied behavior analytic graduate students. Characteristics of the competent model are reviewed, and technical aspects of designing effective models are presented. A model for training supervisors to utilize modeling in supervision is presented.

Years of using lead in paint and gasoline resulted in widespread environmental contamination and human exposure. The particular vulnerability of the developing brain to lead puts children at particular risk for detrimental effects and numerous studies have documented the association of elevated blood lead in children with reduced IQ scores. Behavior analysis (BA)has been critical to the delineation of the specific cognitive deficits that underlie the IQ loss.BA hasrevealed deficits in learning/reversal learning that appear to result from increases in response perseveration and disruption of attention-related behaviors, particularly the ability to wait for reward. In the human environment, lead exposure occurs with many other risk factors for cognitive deficits, particularly in low socioeconomic status communities where lead levels are highest. Two such risk factors—high levels of maternal stress and early behavioral adversity in children—share pathways of brain mediation with lead, and thus could enhance or alter its behavioral toxicity. Indeed, studies in animal models show that lead-induced deficits in cognitive behaviors can be enhanced by, or even unmasked, in the presence of prenatal stress. Further, early behavioral adversity can further exacerbate the adverse effects of lead on learning.

Licensed Psychologists, certified behavior analysts, graduate students.

The presence and impact of age-related language deficits have been acknowledged both the field within the field of behavior analysis (e.g., Gross, Fuqua, Merritt, 2013; Skinner, 1957; Sundberg 1991) as well as the broader field of gerontology (Cohen-Mansfield & Werner, 1997), though relatively little research has focused on remediation of those deficits. This dearth of intervention research is partly related to the notion that age-related language deficits are the result of biological processes, as well as the limited number of behavior analysts trained to work with older adults. However, there is growing support that environmental variables can and do play a role in language deficits among older adults. This talk symposium will include to empirical talks reviewing data from a studies aimed at the assessment and treatment of age-related language deficits among older adults.

Little is known about the functional deterioration of language in older adults with dementia and in particular, about the weakening of the mand repertoire. Skinner hypothesized that operants maintained by specific sources of reinforcement (i.e., the mand) might be less susceptible to deterioration, though it appears the opposite may be true (i.e., the mand is more susceptible to weakening and the most resilient operants are the echoic and textual) (Skinner, 1957; Gross, Fuqua, Mettitt, 2013). The current study employs a multiple-baseline across participants design to examine the effects of echoic and visual prompts, along with an interrupted-behavior chain procedure to teach mands to elders with dementia and aphasia, as well as a history of strokes. For one participant, visual and echoic prompts were faded completely and independent mands were emitted to the mastery criterion. Data will be collected on additional participants.

Aphasia can severely impact an individual's ability to communicate. However, existing research on interventions is limited. The current study compared different stimulus fading procedures with an older adult diagnosed with aphasia. A multielement within a multiple baseline design across behaviors was used to measure the efficacy of each approach. Results showed that the time delay procedure was more efficient at fading prompts when teaching intraverbals.

For children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), having severe deficits in social skills prevent them from functioning in typical situations and properly navigating the social world in which we live. This symposium will consist of four research studies that use innovative behavioral approaches to address some of the pervasive challenges children with ASD face. In the first study, researchers use video modeling to teach children with ASD how to assertively respond to different bullying situations. The second study uses theatre-play as a method to teach appropriate social skills behaviors to dyads of children with ASD. The third study focuses on the need to reduce vocal stereotypy and aims to decrease inappropriate vocalizations by replacing them with appropriate singing. Finally, the last study provides a spin on teaching joint attention to lower functioning children with ASD. In these studies, multiple baseline designs were used to analyze treatment effects, generalization was assessed, and inter-observer reliability was calculated. These four studies provide new ideas to ameliorate the social challenges that children with ASD display, provide evidence-based procedures for treating a range of functioning levels of children on the spectrum, and provide potential approaches for children with ASD to navigate their social world.

Bullying is related to depression, loneliness, and social anxiety (Hawker & Boulton, 2000), and unfortunately, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at a higher risk than their typically developing peers for becoming victims of bullying (Wainscot et al., 2008). The current study involved a video modeling intervention that aimed to teach six children with ASD how to assertively respond to physical and verbal bullying, social exclusion, and to report instances of bullying to a parent. Using a multiple baseline design, measures of appropriate responding to bullying were assessed in baseline, intervention, and generalization probes. During baseline sessions, participants appropriate responses to bullying were either nonexistent or inconsistent. Following baseline, participants were asked to watch a video of an adult assertively responding to three different types of bullying (i.e., physical bullying, verbal bullying, and social exclusion). Results showed that following the introduction of video modeling, all six participants met criterion for appropriate responding to bullying, with four participants demonstrating generalization of learned skills to a novel setting. Findings from this study have implications for the use of video modeling in teaching children with ASD the proper skills to respond to bullying.

Theatre-based programs have been shown to improve the social skills in high-functioning children with ASD, such as increased positive interaction, decreased solitary play (Guli, Semrud-Clikeman, Lerner, & Britton, 2013) and increased social perception (Corbett et al., 2011). The present study was conducted to teach social skills behaviors to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) via a theatre intervention conducted in dyads. Specifically, a multiple baseline design across three dyads of children with ASD was used to assess the efficacy of a theatre intervention on increasing verbal social skills, nonverbal social skills, and appropriate sociodramatic play behaviors. Measurements of social skills behaviors were taken during naturalistic play sessions and baseline, as well as after theatre intervention sessions. The theatre intervention involved sessions of learning how to act out and also do improvisation of theme-based plays in dyadic pairs for several weeks. Results showed that all participants reached at least 80% criterion performance for one or more targeted social behaviors. The current study demonstrates that a theatre-based procedure, a largely untapped therapeutic technique, is an effective social skills intervention for children with ASD.

Vocal stereotypy can be disruptive and interfere with social opportunities; yet, it is often a preferred activity for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Decreasing motivating operations to engage in inappropriate forms of the behavior (e.g., sounds, high pitched speaking or singing) while increasing topographically similar appropriate behaviors might be an indicated course of treatment. In this study, we taught three children with ASD who engaged in inappropriate forms of vocal stereotypy to sing appropriately. We used a changing criterion design plus a backward chaining procedure to increase the word length of their singing phrases. After the children learned to sing a song through this procedure, we used multi-element comparisons to determine if pre-session singing sessions would decrease vocal stereotypy in their subsequent intervention sessions. Preliminary results showed that participants learned to sing appropriately, and all forms of vocal stereotypy occurred less frequently immediately after singing sessions. Discussion will focus on implications for teaching pro-social vocal behaviors as replacements for vocal stereotypies.

A key deficit in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is underdeveloped joint attention skills. Joint attention is a pivotal social communication skill that is very complex and can be difficult to teach in isolation. It may behoove us to find other ways in which joint attention might be easier to teach. In Experiment I, basic functional play was taught to three children with ASD through imitation, with joint attention embedded within the procedure. Reinforcement was contingent on joint attention during the play imitation sessions, compared to baseline in which joint attention without play was reinforced. The results demonstrated that play-based treatment can increase joint attention and that generalization of joint attention across person and setting occurred. In Experiment II, the Natural Language Paradigm (NLP; Laski, Charlop, & Schreibman, 1988), which has been shown to increase both speech and play (Gillett & LeBlanc, 2007), will be assessed to determine whether NLP can also generate and increase joint attention in children with ASD. Together, the results of these studies may hold implications for alternative ways for teaching joint attention via procedures that evoke motivating operations.

There is paucity of research examining the use video modeling to train parents to implement formats of early intervention such as Naturalistic Environmental Training (NET). The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the efficacy of video modeling to train parents to implement the Naturalistic Language Paradigm (NLP), a specific format of NET, with their children diagnosed with or suspected of having autism spectrum disorder and to extend the current literature on NLP. All three parents demonstrated accurate performance of the components of NLP with the confederate and met the mastery criterion in two or three video modeling sessions. We measured the parents accurate implementation of each NLP component skill across phases of the study. Results showed that video modeling did not teach all component skills to mastery. We also measured the generalization of the parents NLP implementation to their child and to the home setting. Generalization of the NLP component skills to sessions with their child was observed for all three participants, and generalization to the home was observed for two of the three participants. Maintenance probes conducted one and three weeks after training showed continued high levels of accurate implementation of NLP with for two parents. Implications for the use of video modeling to teach NLP to parents will be discussed.

The Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Relational Training System (PEAK) is the first behavior analytic assessment and curriculum that is designed to promote the emergence of derived relational responding in individuals with- and without- disabilities. PEAK is grounded in Stimulus Equivalence theory and Relational Frame Theory accounts of human language and cognition, and provides an assessment of participants relational abilities with a set of curricular programs that target socially relevant skills and derivational abilities. The present set of studies will evaluate how the PEAK Equivalence assessment relates to standardized measures of intelligence, and will provide demonstrations of how programs in the PEAK curriculum can be used to teach several skills, as well as lead to corresponding changes in IQ. In addition, a demonstration of how advances in Relational Frame Theory can be incorporated into the PEAK curriculum will be provided, and the potential relationship between these more advanced relational abilities and intelligence will be discussed.

The psychological construct of intelligence encompasses a variety of capacities (ex., logic, abstract thought, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, and memory) that have been captured in contemporary psychometric measures. The most well-known surveys of intelligence provide a measure of intelligence in terms of the intelligence quotient (IQ). Standardized IQ tests have been used for placement and diagnostic purposes for over a century due to their predictive validity across several socially significant outcomes. Although purely psychometric evaluations of intelligence have generated strong results, surveys of intelligence do not provide researchers and clinicians with a framework that breaks down the behavioral units of intellect. The Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Relational Training system (PEAK) is a behavior analytic assessment and curriculum that targets responsivity to direct training, as well as generalization and derived relational abilities. Several studies detail the relationship between the PEAK assessment and standardized measures of IQ, specifically in application with individuals with autism and other neurodegenerative disabilities. By reducing the construct of IQ into specific and measurable behavioral units, the PEAK curriculum has the potential to improve identified cognitive and language skills deficits that are related to contemporary measures of human intelligence.

Preliminary research has shown the effectiveness of the Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Relational Training System (PEAK) curriculum in teaching a range of verbal skills, including metaphorical emotions. However, to date, minimal research has evaluated the effectiveness of PEAK in teaching children with emotional disorders contextually distorted tacts related to private emotional events metaphorically. Therefore, the current study used a concurrent multiple baseline design to train three children to make correct word-picture and vocal-picture matches between stimuli of emotional states and pictures (e.g., happy, sad, and angry; sunshine, rain, and steaming kettle). Two arbitrary stimuli served as contextual cues for relations of sameness (Context One) and opposition (Context Two). Distorted metaphorical tacts where extinguished during Context One, and reinforced during Context Two. Trial-by-trial interobserver agreement data was collected for 25% of sessions (total agreement = 100%). Following training, all students demonstrated higher than baseline accuracies on response selection and intraverbal emissions to WH questions related to emotions, for both metaphorical and distorted tacts. The results replicate and extend previous on the PEAK curriculum.

The current study used multiple exemplar training (MET) to teach perspective-taking skills to two early elementary school age children with identified developmental delays. Using a multiple probe design, participants were trained using a testing and training protocol developed for the purpose of this study, and was based on previous protocols. This protocol taught the three deictic relational frames I-YOU, HERE-THERE and NOW-THEN through the use of childrens books. Results show that relational responding can be achieved using MET as evidenced by posttest probes meeting criteria without being directly trained. Procedures were shown to not only be successful at training perspective-taking skills but the use of childrens books was a natural means to train this skill. Implications of this study give professionals in a public school a protocol to train basic skills related to empathy while also providing an objective measurement of behavior as a result of the training.

For the past several years, awareness for the ABA services has been increased dramatically in Korea. Although limited, few BCBA approved programs have launched, and the number of BCBAs/BCaBAs has been increased up to approximately 30. Much efforts are made to improve direct services, educational system, treatment delivery and staff-training. In this symposium, 4 different research projects are presented, and the topics are need assessment, FA, staff-training and face perception. Although these topics are not quite related, their results provide useful information for service delivery, on-going research and treatment outcome study in Korea. Specific implications and suggestions are discussed and practical issues will be shared.

High percentages of individuals with developmental disabilities and autism spectrum disorders engage in problem behaviors, yet effective treatment has not been provided in Korea. As a first step to establish suitable and efficient service system for problem behaviors, need assessment among direct caregivers appears necessary. The purpose of this study is to investigate the common strategies currently in practice for remediating problem behaviors in Korea and unmet psychological, educational and practical needs among caregivers. The participants included parents, teachers and para-professionals (n=172, n=324, n=474, respectively). The results are as follows. Most frequently observed problem behaviors were noncompliance and tantrum. Teachers evaluated problem behaviors more severely with slightly higher stress levels compared to other groups. Next, majority of teachers and para-professionals were willing to spend a short-term training program to enhance their ability to deal with problem behaviors. All 3 groups recognize behavior therapy as the most effective method for remediating behavior problems, yet are using different methods to deal with them in real life setting, mainly due to lack of resources. They also expressed the need for building effective consultation and referral system and systematic support to use them in their settings.

Functional Analysis (FA) is an assessment for identifying the underlying function of the problem. Despite of its utility, its use has been limited due to costs and lack of experts. Instead, Questions About Behavior Function (QABF), an indirect assessment utilizing the parents reports, has been commonly used. Nonetheless, the interchangeability of two measures has not been investigated enough. The purpose of this study is to identify the interchangeability of the FA and the QABF. Twenty four participants with Developmental Disabilities(DD) aged from 4 to 16 were recruited. Data of 16 participants who completed both measures and assessed same problem behaviors were analyzed. Each functions of behaviors identified from the QABF was compared to the one from the FA for each participants. Also, the correlations between the results of FA and QABF were conducted. As a results, congruency between the measures were found only in 3 participants(18.75%). The correlation between the measures was highest on the Attention function(r = .333) and lowest on the Tangible function(r = .004). These results indicate that the incongruity exists between direct(FA) and indirect(QABF) measures, suggesting that the use of both measures are recommended to identify the function of problem behaviors. Practical difficulties and concerns are further discussed.

Applied Behavioral Analysis(ABA) is an evidence-based treatment for persons with problem behaviors among developmental disabilities(DD) population. Typically, ABA service is provided individual bases to maximize its effectiveness. Due to high costs associated with ABA, however, there is a need for more cost-effective short-term staff training, especially in Korea where limited resources are available. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a short-term staff training to improve behavior among individuals with DD in a residential facility. A 4 week short-term staff training was administered by an ABA specialist weekly bases. Training focused on conducting functional analysis for problem behaviors, developing and implementing function-based assessment Additionally, homework was given along with feedbacks on each staff's compliance. Data on the individual's degree of problem behaviors, staff's stress and quality of life and knowledge of behavior principles were collected through the self-reported questionaires before and after the intervention to examine the effects of the training. The results showed that significant difference in pre and post scores on knowledge of behavior principles. No differences were found in other measures. The implications and limitations of this study, with directions for future research, are also discussed.

Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD) are characterized by deficits in face perception. Recent studies have investigated an underlying mechanism of this characteristics by utilizing the adaptation paradigm which is based on norm-based coding model. These studies found that persons with ASD showed diminished aftereffects in identity, gender, and emotion perception. The purpose of this study is to investigate race-contingent aftereffects of persons with ASD compared to those of typically developing (TD) people using the adaptation paradigm. Ten children with ASD and 9 TD children were participated in this study. Morphed anti-emotional faces (happy and sad) of Asian and Caucasian were randomly presented for 4000ms as the adaptor. After the adaptation phase, participants were shown the neutral face of the same identity as the adaptor and asked to choose the most appropriate label of emotion for the face. The results showed significant interaction effect between the group (ASD and TD) and the race(Asian and Caucasian). Further analyses revealed that the aftereffects of TD group was marginally larger for Asian than the Caucasian face. No difference of size of aftereffect between races were found in ASD group. This suggests atypical race-contingent aftereffect in ASD group. Implications and limitations are further discussed.

A potential problem with the use of response prompts in applied settings to teach children with autism is that the prompts are susceptible to procedural drift. While stimulus prompts may serve an efficient and effective alternative to response prompts, these are often not utilized. This study compared the use of response prompts to a simple technological intervention using stimulus prompts. (e.g., systematically altering the intensity of S-stimuli within a PowerPoint program on a laptop computer). Three participants diagnosed with autism between the ages of 812 were taught conditional discriminations, either by response prompts or stimulus prompts, within a changing conditions design. Not only were the stimulus prompts more effective and efficient (e.g., fewer trials to criterion and fewer errors) because of the technological delivery system of the stimulus prompts, the possibility for procedural drift was eradicated. These results are discussed in terms of improving the efficacy of teaching students with autism spectrum disorders.

Students with autism spectrum disorders have been reported to demonstrate stimulus over-selectivity or restricted stimulus control (i.e., failure to respond to all the critical elements of multi-element complex stimuli). This potential may have a detrimental impact on the acquisition of academic skills for these individuals if the stimuli in question contain multiple controlling elements (i.e., learning the relation between spoken words and PECS symbols and AAC icons). This study presents a number of methodologies by which attention to, and the subsequent control by, multiple elements of a complex stimulus was demonstrated. In Experiment One, a 13-year-old non-vocal boy with an autism spectrum disorder was taught to select printed word comparisons contingent on their spoken + signed name comparisons (e.g., a complex stimulus) via errorless instruction. Following training, tests conducted in extinction verified accurate control by each element over printed word comparison. In Experiment 2, a 8 year-old student with autism spectrum disorder was taught identity-matching-to-complex samples (e.g., samples containing two, physically dissimilar yet related visual stimuli). Following training, tests conducted in extinction verified accurate control by each element. The data are discussed in terms of maximizing student learning while avoiding the potential pitfalls of error histories.

The symposium on Understanding the contingencies of systems and implementing change focuses on social, behavioral and cultural aspects of change in business and society as a whole. Change is perceived to be uncertain and complex; therefore it is often met with resistance and fear. As adaptation to change requires conscientious effort, not everyone is able to make it. The symposium attempts to demystify this uncertainty and analyze the process. The presentations dissect different cultures and schools of thought to discuss how new memes evolve, propagate and adapt and thereby play a critical role in an individuals survival. Further, the symposium will include empirical reports as well as theoretical reviews focusing on organizational change. The scope of the presentations spans across behavioral aspects of partners in start-up to stakeholder in large, top-down organizations. The presentations will emphasize the effects of reinforcement contingencies, task mastery and recognition, behavioral momentum and successful startup partnership.

Human beings face similar adaptive challenges as all other organisms. However, humans are unique in that for the last 150,000 years, most of their adaptations have been cultural. Culture may be roughly described as consisting of an extremely large set of memes, which are units of information. As humans interact within their society or social groups these memes are continually reinforced and thereby play an integral part in molding their perception of cause and effect. When individuals translocate from one country to another, specifically from one country with a relatively traditional social structure to one with a more liberal social structure, these individuals have to adapt in order to assimilate into society. This is because the memes and reinforcers of the different societies vary significantly. Cultural adaptations are spectacularly complex and essential for their survival. They are also not without an underlying biological basis of sociability, inventiveness and imitativeness. In this paper we explore the reasons around why some individuals adapt and why some are more resistant to change.

Social change is characterized by (1) the creation of powerful memes by a single individual (2) propagation of those memes to a large group of people (3) sustenance of those memes via behavioral change and transmission to associated social groups as well as to the next generation. Thus social change is complete when there is a collective change in group behavior. When large social groups adapt to a new way of thinking or behaving however behavioral momentum of social groups needs to be overcome. To displace a current group behavior with new behavior, therefore this new behavior or thinking has to be often more potent than the current behavior. In such a scenario the adoption curve of new behavior is often slow at the beginning but as time progresses the number of people who adopt increases. The pace of adoption however can range from a few months to one or two generations. Finally to sustain this change the operation of long term contingencies with long term attractors acting as reinforcers need to be at play.

The purpose of this symposium is twofold: (1) to describe extensions of the discounting framework to the study of addictive and social behavior, and (2) to demonstrate contributions of the resistance-to-temptation paradigm to the study of self-controlled behavior. The first presentation compares temporal and probability discounting of monetary gains and of monetary losses by tobacco smokers and non-smokers. The second presentation extends the methodology of temporal and probability discounting of both gains and losses of different rewards by cocaine- and marihuana-dependent users, and demonstrates that delay and probability discounting involve separated processes. The third presentation documents a reversal-of-preferences effect in a social discounting procedure, in which physical distance between individuals is used as a metric of social distance. The final presentation describes two examples of the resistance-to-temptation paradigm, specifically delay of gratification and refraining, used to study self-controlled behavior with the watching of videos as the reward. In addition to the contributions to our understanding of addictive and social behavior, the symposium integrates discounting, delay of gratification, and refraining to demonstrate a continuum of procedures in the study of self-controlled behavior.

The generality of delay and probability discounting across reward-types by tobacco users is unclear. Hence, 29 tobacco users and 29 controls were exposed to delay and probability discounting tasks using an adjusting immediate amount procedure. The rewards used were free-time activities, non-alcoholic preferred drinking beverages, $200, and $3000 Mexican pesos, at five delays (1 week, 1 month, 6 months, 1 year and 3 years). Additionally, level of tobacco dependence was measured. The hyperbolic function and area-under-the-curve analyses from the data for each delayed and probabilistic outcome were calculated. Tobacco users discounted the value of the delayed $3,000 reward more steeply than control participants. No systematic differences between tobacco users and controls were found with delay or probability discounting for any of the other rewards tested. These results suggest that a magnitude effect could be responsible for the differences found between the discounting rates of delayed money by tobacco users and controls. Moreover, the purpose of this study was partially accomplished because the generality of discounting of different rewards by tobacco users seems to depend on state variables like the reward-type.

Drug users discount the value of delayed monetary outcomes more steeply than control participants, suggesting greater impatience, but little is known about the discounting of probabilistic rewards. The goal of the current study was to assess delay and probability discounting of several hypothetical outcomes by marijuana- and cocaine-dependent users to find combinations of risky choices and impatience behavior characteristic of drug users. 30 marijuana-dependent, 30 cocaine-dependent, and 30 control participants completed delay and probability discounting tasks. An adjusting immediate amount procedure was used. Both delay and probability discounting of four gains ($200, $3000, free-time activities, and non-alcoholic preferred drinking beverages) and one loss ($1,500) were studied. The results showed that cocaine users discounted delayed monetary gains more steeply than marijuana users and control participants. There were no significant differences between participants for the other delayed and probabilistic outcomes. Of significance, factor and correlational analyses showed that delay discounting of gains involves underlying processes that are different from those involved in probability discounting of gains, and that the processes underlying losses differ from those underlying gains.

Altruism is commonly defined as a behavior in which an individual (P0) gives a benefit to another person (PN) rather than retaining it for himself. A special case of altruism is one in which somebody has the option to give a benefit to one of two individuals who are at different social distances from him, and he gives the benefit to the socially more distant person (PN+M) rather than to the closer one (PN). Following this last definition, in the current study the stability of the altruistic behavior or whether there would be a preference-reversal effect was determined by decreasing social distance. Each of 117 participants were exposed to each of four social discounting tasks; in each task, the participants had to choose between a smaller reward for PN and a larger reward for PN+M. Social distance between PN+M and PN, and between the participant and PN, was varied within and between tasks, respectively. In general, participants showed lower social discounting rates (greater areas under the curve), or more "altruistic" behavior, as their distance from PN individuals increased. These findings contribute to the generality of the hyperbolic model as one that predicts preferences reversals in altruistic behavior.

Self-control can be defined as refraining from obtaining an available reward until a pre-specified requirement is reached. This paradigm was developed with pigeons responding for food reinforcers. The generality of this paradigm to humans and to other reward types was tested in the current study. Thirty-two adults were exposed to pairs of TV videos. The first video was always presented within a time cycle, and the other video could be presented once the cycle elapsed, according to the following contingency. Trying to play the first video would remove it and cancel the second video presentation. Otherwise, if the person refrained from playing the first video, the second video presentation would occur once the cycle elapsed and could be played. Time-cycle lengths of 32, 64, or 128 s were combined with first-video durations of 8, 32, 64 or 128 s. As the duration of the first-video presentation increased, the percentage of second-video presentations earned per session decreased, and this effect was modulated by the time-cycle duration. The implications of this procedure for self-control theory and its relation with other self-control procedures, such as delay of gratification, are also discussed.

Since biologists no longer limit themselves to studying the evolution of physical bodies but have developed theories of complex human behavior such as altruistic and cooperative actions (cf. group selection theory,) their area of study overlaps considerably with that of behavioral scientists. Behavior analysists study how environmental events during an organism's ontogeny correlate with changes in that organism's allocation of time to different activities. Those events cause changes in behavior because of their effect on the individual's relative fitness. Despite the overlap in topic areas, both biologists and behavioral scientists are largely uninformed about each other's work. How do biology and behavior analysis relate to each other? How can biology benefit from behavior analysis by paralleling the behaviorist's approach to developing explanations of behavior omitting human agency as a causal factor? How can behavior analysis benefit from Baum's (1994) introduction of the Multi-Scale View, which paves the road between the two disciplines by arguing for a selection of nested activities through their correlation with phylogenetically important events? By breaking ground for uniting phylogenetic and ontogenetic explanations of behavior, the answers to those questions not only benefit basic knowledge but can also inform effective public policy making.

There are many fields interested in the behavior of consumers (e.g., consumer psychology, consumer analysis, marketing, behavioral economics). Most of these are not behavior analytic, however behaviorists have ventured into these fields, expanding the Organizational Behavior Management literature in a discipline termed Consumer Behavior Analysis (Foxall, 2010). This symposium provides four demonstrations of applied behavior analysis applied to understanding the impact on consumer behavior. Rocha will be presenting on the transfer of care as it relates to patient care and patient safety at a hospital. Assemi and Rafacz will focus on behavior analytic methods to identify stimuli that may function as motivating operations and the utilization of these stimuli to increase healthy food selection at the point-of-purchase by consumers. Biagi and Rodriguez will present data and thoughts on the need for further behavior analytic approaches to examining the long-term impacts marketing and other strategies have in influencing consumer choice. Finally, Stratton et al., will be presenting a 5-year study aimed to determine whether increased availability and point-of-purchase promotion of healthy concession food options influenced consumer acceptance at county-owned waterparks.

Communication is a central process that can enhance or hinder Patient Safety and affect Patient Experience. Shift Change meeting is a tool commonly used to report on patients conditions during transfer of care. The shift change meeting is designed using an easy and concise standardized framework highlighting important aspect of patients care that need to be discussed, commonly referred to as an SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation). This report investigated the effects of a checklist plus a verbal feedback procedure on the percentage of SBAR components discussed at a shift change meeting. This checklist included the following components: background, observation level, risk, strategy, and outcome. The study used an ABAB reversal design, which compared the percentage of all checklist components reported during baseline and intervention. Results showed that the percentage of components of SBAR discussed during the meeting increased when the intervention phase was implemented. Time spent on off-task behaviors and the length of the meeting substantially decreased during the intervention. In addition, follow up data indicated that rates of assaults and aggression, and the incident rate level on the unit steadily declined during three months following the intervention.

Antecedents can influence consumer decision-making during point-of-purchase (POP) transactions. The purpose of this study was to determine whether increased availability and POP promotion of healthy concession food options influenced consumer acceptance at county-owned waterparks. An applied, five-year study was conducted at two Greenville County, South Carolina, waterparks serving between 75,000 and 100,000 patrons each season (10 weeks). Several POP antecedent interventions were assessed, where healthy options were labeled on menu boards and promoted throughout the park via banners and A-frame displays during the treatment seasons. Weekly sales data for each healthy concession option (summed as healthy sales) and all concession options (total sales) were collected during the comparison season in 2011 and in each intervention season (2012-2015). Consumer selection of healthy food options was assessed by analyzing unit and net sales data. Findings indicate increased availability and POP promotion of healthy menu options may positively influence consumer acceptance. Sustained acceptance of healthy menu options for four years is promising, but additional promotional methods may be warranted to further increase consumer acceptance of healthy options. Implications for behavior analysis work in consumer behavior and marketing practices will be presented.

The success of behavioral interventions relies in part on the accuracy with which the intervention is implemented. Coaching and performance feedback are two of the most commonly researched approaches of changing interventionist behavior in applied behavior analysis. However, the feasibility of these practices can be challenging in school and home settings. This symposium will present empirical data from four studies evaluating innovations in enhancing treatment integrity of behavior analytic interventions for young children. The first two single case research studies evaluate teacher self-monitoring on behavioral interventions fidelity in Head Start centers. The second two papers present results from parent-implement interventions to increase social-communication skills in young children with autism spectrum disorder. Dr. Peter Sturmey will offer a discussion regarding the potential impact of behavioral interventions to increase treatment fidelity among teachers and parents. He will also reflect on factors that may enhance the generalization and maintenance of teacher and parent implemented behavioral interventions

Self-monitoring is a low cost intervention that enables performance feedback while minimizing reliance on outside personnel. Self-monitoring involves observing ones own behavior and recording those observations. While self-monitoring has extensive research support in the literature as an intervention strategy for students with disabilities, relatively little research has been conducted evaluating self-monitoring for teachers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of preschool teacher self-monitoring within a practice-based coaching framework on teacher fidelity of class-wide transitions. Results of this multiple baseline design across teachers demonstrate that teacher fidelity of transition practices increased to 100% for all three Head Start teachers with the practice-based coaching plus self-monitoring intervention. The percentage of 10 s intervals in which all children were engaged in appropriate transition behaviors also increased with the teacher intervention. Each teacher identified a student in need of additional behavioral supports during transition. Challenging behavior for each of these three students decreased to low levels following teacher self-monitoring and practice-based coaching.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a preschool teacher intervention around the use self-monitoring and the use online learning modules. The study involved two intervention phases: (a) universal supports - use of an in-service training around daily self-monitoring and instructional supports focused on language modeling strategies, and (b) secondary supports - online learning modules that provided exemplars of the operationally defined instructional supports. The first phase involved 7 Head Start lead teachers who all received the universal supports. The teachers (4 in total) who required additional professional development supports received the second phase; which provided them with access to the online learning modules. Treatment effects were evaluated using individual single-case research design (two concurrent multiple baseline designs across classrooms). The teachers daily self-reported their frequency of use of specific language modeling strategies. The results suggested that the exposure to self-monitoring was effect in increasing all teachers use of language modeling strategies. However, the use of the online learning modules, specifically the video exemplars, increased the consistent use of strategies by the teachers.

A manualized protocol designed to teach parents a series of intervention components designed to improve the language of children with autism spectrum disorders was developed and tested with 21 parent child dyads arranged in a series on multiple baseline designs. Parents were taught to (a) follow their childs lead in play; (b) match conversation turns; (c) mirror their childs play; (d) expand on childs utterances; (e) arrange the environment; and (e) prompt language at target level. Previous research aimed at teaching parents similar target skills required 24 to more than 30 sessions of instruction. The manualized protocol developed here resulted in parents reaching mastery in only 6 sessions. Child language was measured and improvements in language were found (e.g., increased mands, mean length of utterance and language diversity). This presentation will describe the development and content of the parent training protocol and present representative data from parents and their children.

The Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) has recently announced a change in the ethical guidelines for credentialed behavior analysts. Specifically, a new enforceable compliance code (i.e., Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts) was developed and will take effect in January 2016. The new Code is intended to more clearly present ethical expectations and expand the range of professional conduct (BACB, 2014). Given the new Code and its intent for creation, it seems reasonable that the new Code would affect pre-service training of behavior analysts to ensure newly credentialed behavior analysts have the prerequisite skills to understand and follow the Code. The purpose of this symposium is to provide an overview of four different training programs and how each program is providing pre-service training specific to the new Code. Presenters are from varied training programs that provide training on campus, online, hybrid (online and on campus) and within community-based practicums.

The BACB's New Ethical and Professional Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts is the standard for the professional behavior of behavior analysts. It is also our compass- the main source for information about navigating ethical challenges and inculcating the values of the profession into students and trainees. Information on how this can be approached from a teaching/training perspective will be shared. In particular, strategies for teaching ethical decision-making will be described. Specific strategies for helping young professionals to adhere to the code and to reduce their risk of noncompliance will be discussed. The need for signal detection skills and resource management skills will be highlighted. In addition, considerations for the promotion of ethical behavior will be discussed at both the individual and organization levels.

This symposium will present some of the latest research that utilizes technology in the form of videos and iPads with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The first study evaluated the speed of acquisition and level of generalization of tacts across three different stimulus modes: picture-flashcard, video clip, and 3D object. Results indicated that two of the three participants learned tacts slightly faster when using the video clip mode compared to the other two modes. The second study evaluated if participants engaged in higher rates of problem behavior when using traditional materials or an iPad to complete school work. Results indicated that one participant only engaged in problem behavior when using traditional materials and all three participants chose to do work on the iPad when provided a choice between the two materials. Implications from the results for both studies will be discussed in detail.

Labeling everyday objects and actions is a foundational skill for the development of language (Sundberg & Partington, 1998) which is vital for reading comprehension and proficiency in vocal communication (Wood, 2001). Tacting is a complex task that encompasses objects or events with arbitrary and particular names (Greer, Yuan, & Gautreux, 2005). This study evaluated the speed of acquisition and level of generalization of tacts across three different stimulus modes: picture-flashcard, video clip, and 3D object. Three young children diagnosed with autism participated in this study. The acquisition of tacts was evaluated during Discrete Trial Training sessions (DTT). Two of the three participants learned the tacts more rapidly in the video clip condition in contrast with the picture condition. All three participants generalized the three tacts learned through a specific stimulus mode to the remaining stimulus modes. One week after the generalization test, all participants generalized to all novel 3D objects. The use of video clips to teach tacts to children with autism may be a useful method for teachers or instructors who do not have easy access to a variety of settings, as well as for the development of verbal behavior teaching programs.

Tablets are being incorporated into interventions with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. So far research has focused mainly on academics and communication, but only one study has evaluated using tablets to decrease escape maintained behaviors. The purpose of this study was to replicate the effects of the study by Neely et al. (2013) and also determine if the tablet served as a reinforcer for three participants with escape maintained behaviors. A multiple baseline with an alternating treatment design was utilized in the first phase in which academic work was completed on either traditional materials or the tablet. The following phases for each participant were dependent on the prior phase, with a final choice phase. All participants showed lower levels of problem behaviors and higher levels of compliance when tablets were introduced contingent upon completing work. For all participants, the tablet was chosen 100% of the time, and two participants had 100% accuracy and compliance while using the tablet.

Early intensive behavioral intervention is a well-established treatment for children with autism spectrum disorders. However, many details of treatment have yet to be individually empirically evaluated. For example, ample research supports both more-structured teaching procedures (e.g., discrete trial training) and less-structured teaching procedures (e.g., natural environment training) but little research has evaluated strategies for combining them in optimal proportions. In addition, relatively little research has evaluated procedures for teaching children with autism to identify and respond to the private events of others. This symposium brings together two studies that address these topics. The symposium concludes with a discussion by Dr. Timothy Weil.

Naturalistic behavioral skill acquisition procedures have been used with children since the 1960s and continue to be an integral component of comprehensive early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) programs for children with autism. Some advocates of natural environment training (NET) suggest that NET is virtually always superior to structured teaching procedures such as discrete trial training (DTT) and several studies have compared NET-only to DTT-only and shown that NET was superior. However, it can be argued that such research evaluated what amounts to a false comparison because they evaluated DTT implemented alone. Most comprehensive EIBI programs today implement a combination of DTT and NET and few behavior analysts would suggest that DTT ever be used without any other more naturalistic approaches. Therefore, the purpose the current study is to compare NET-only to DTT combined with NET for the acquisition and generalization of verbal behavior in children with autism. This combination mirrors more closely what is actually done in contemporary comprehensive EIBI programs.

All previous research regarding perspective-taking has solely addressed the use of sight to acquire knowledge and perspective. No previous studies, of which we are aware, have sought to systematically teach children with autism how to identify and explain known and unknown information across oneself and others using a wider variety of senses. Therefore, the purpose of the current research study was to extend behavioral research on the topic of knowing by evaluating the effectiveness of a multiple exemplar training package that included rules, modeling, practice, and feedback, in teaching children with autism to identify and explain information that is known and unknown to themselves and others based on sensory perspective taking and experience.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are included in public education settings at increasing rates, but they frequently experience difficulties (e.g., disruption, noncompliance, aggression) with transitions during daily routines. Behavioral techniques to support transitions have been identified through single-subject research studies, but these strategies have not yet been tested in packaged interventions, which may be more easily implemented in school settings. We developed and evaluated Schedules, Tools, and Activities for Transitions (STAT), a manualized intervention of ABA-based supports to facilitate successful transitions for students with ASD (K-5) in self-contained classrooms. Across three sites (LA, Philadelphia, Rochester, NY), classrooms in under-resourced, urban school districts were randomized to treatment (STAT program) or waitlist control. Intervention components included antecedent-based strategies, teaching strategies, and reinforcement. STAT showed effects over waitlist on (a) teacher-nominated target problems (?2=13.996, p=0.003) and (b) classroom-based problem behavior (SSQ; Mcontrol = .67; Mtreatment = .72), but not on (c) classroom independence (ABAS; Mcontrol = 4.51; Mtreatment = 4.32). Teacher fidelity and ratings of implementation and buy-in were all acceptable-to-high. A teacher-mediated behavioral program was successfully implemented at multiple sites. It was beneficial for aspects of student behavior, feasible to implement with high fidelity, and perceived as sustainable in real-world settings.

The Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) is a behavioral measure originally created to examine derived relational responding. For over a decade, the IRAP has also been used to study a related concept, implicit bias, across multiple domains (e.g., body image, self-esteem, racism, etc.). This computerized measure of response latency has produced results that resemble data from other similar measures that were originally created to assess implicit bias. However, IRAP procedural differences allow a parsing of the experimental stimuli that produces a finer-grain analysis of implicit bias data. Some researchers have used the IRAP to investigate implicit bias related to mental illness. For example, overarching mental illness stigma and social categorization have recently been examined using a combination of both IRAP and self-report data, rather than by self-report data alone. The three presentations herein will discuss whether D-IRAP scores (implicit bias/stigma) predict willingness to interact with people suffering with schizophrenia, posttraumatic stress disorder, or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Specifically, participant responding to vignettes about interacting with people who have, and who do not have, these three diagnoses was used to assess the predictive validity of the IRAP.

This study used self-report measures and the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) to investigate the relationship between explicit and implicit biases towards schizophrenia. The participants from an introductory psychology class at a Midwestern university were randomly assigned to this study. After completing multiple self-reports, the participants read matched vignettes, created by the researchers, about two people struggling with symptoms of schizophrenia. One vignette noted the person as having been diagnosed with schizophrenia, whereas the other contained no such diagnosis. Then, after receiving IRAP instructions, participants completed an IRAP using the names of the people from the vignettes (sample stimuli) and healthy/sick words (target stimuli). Following the IRAP, the participants completed two Social Distance Scales (SDS). The SDS measured the participants willingness to interact with individuals who were specifically diagnosed with schizophrenia and individuals who received no diagnosis. The primary purpose of this study was to assess whether the D-IRAP scores (i.e., implicit bias) are predictive of differences in SDS scores for those diagnosed, and those not diagnosed, with schizophrenia. Data on these issues will be presented and discussed.

This study examined whether certain implicit and explicit bias measures could predict participant interaction with people suffering with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. Participants were sampled from an introductory psychology class at a Midwestern university. Implicit (i.e., automatic) biases were measured using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP), whereas explicit (i.e., more controlled) biases were measured via self-report questionnaires. After completing several self-report surveys and reading vignettes about people suffering with diagnosed and undiagnosed ADHD, participants completed an IRAP tailored to measure ADHD stigma. After the IRAP, students completed the Social Distance Scale (SDS) to measure willingness to interact with the people from the vignettes. It was hypothesized that D-IRAP and questionnaire scores would reflect stronger stigmatization toward those who carry an ADHD diagnosis compared to those who exhibit ADHD symptomology in the absence of such a diagnosis. Further, it was expected that the D-IRAP scores would better predict willingness to interact with both people who are diagnosed with, and those who are undiagnosed but suffer from, ADHD. Data regarding these issues will be discussed during this presentation.

Stigmatization can negatively impact people suffering from a diagnosed mental disorder. While some stereotypes may be attached to mental disorders in general, particular disorders may have specific stigmas. In previous mental health stigma studies, self-report (explicit bias) measures have assessed the participants attitudes toward a person diagnosed with a particular disorder. However, these measures may not be predictive of the participants behavior toward that individual. The Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP), a reasonably reliable and valid measure of implicit bias, may have utility in predicting such behavior. The present study involved (a) administering a number of self-report measures, (b) reading two vignettes about individuals struggling with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), one of which that has been diagnosed as such, (c) an IRAP involving positive and negative words associated with the health of the individuals from the vignettes, and (d) two Social Distance Scales about the people described in the vignettes. Two major hypotheses include that the D-IRAP (implicit bias) scores will reflect stronger, unfavorable stigma toward those with a PTSD diagnosis (versus those with PTSD symptoms that have not been diagnosed with PTSD), and the implicit bias scores will predict social distance scores (i.e., willingness to interact) for both vignettes.

Young adults report greater levels of drug and alcohol misuse than any other age or demographic group yet they rarely report significant substance dependence or any desire to participate in formal substance abuse treatment. Dr. Murphy's presentation will focus on novel behavioral economic approaches to understanding risk, quantifying severity, and motivating change in substance use in high-risk young adult populations. Dr. Murphy has developed and evaluated a brief behavioral economic intervention approach that attempts to increase engagement in patterns of goal-directed substance-free activities that are associated with delayed reinforcement and will describe the treatment elements and outcomes. He has also developed and evaluated demand curve and relative behavioral allocation indices of reward value and will present data on their clinical relevance in the prediction of substance abuse severity and treatment response.

Undergraduate students, graduate students, and professionals in psychology and behavior analysis

This symposium includes data from a series of three studies evaluating means for teaching and using self-instructional procedures for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Each study provides an overview of different means to teach individuals with intellectual disability to self instruct and then use that skill to learn other skills. The final study then evaluates the efficiency of self-instruction compared to teacher directed instruction. In sum, this selection of studies provides evidence and rationale for considering broader instructional targets for individuals with intellectual disability. Broadening the focus to teach pivotal skills (rather than discrete specific skills) provides opportunities for individuals to select and pursue learning across environments with a system of self-instruction. The results are discussed in relation to their potential impact for independent living, employment, and community integration. Further, the researchers will discuss the relevance of these procedures to bridge the gap from school based instruction to community instruction and transitions from high school to community settings.

This study examined the effects of a system of most-to-least prompts to teach four adolescents with moderate-to-severe intellectual and developmental disabilities to use an iPod Touch and a video prompting app (inPromptu) independently. All four students learned to use the technology and app independently and two students were able to self-direct to learn a novel skill.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of student-delivered video modeling through a video iPod as a means of teaching job-related to tasks to four young adults with autism spectrum disorder at their employment settings. All of the participants were able to independently use the mobile technology and complete three novel vocational jobs.

a. This study evaluated the effects video prompting when presented as teacher-delivered instruction (TDI) and when presented as student-delivered instruction (SDI) on skill acquisition for four adolescent or adult females with an intellectual disability. Results indicated that three participants were able to acquire a novel skill within similar a similar number of sessions and time with both TDI and SDI, while one participant only reached criterion levels of responding when instruction was provided by a teacher.

Western dualistic conceptions of "mind" and "self" create unrealistic behavioral expectations of patients for themselves, for their families, and for professionals alike. An alternative neuroscience-based conceptualization of the self allows a deeper and ultimately more forgiving model of human behavior. This lecture presents emerging perspectives on the neuroscience of self and reviews the accumulating data on the science of mindfulness meditation. Specific application of these concepts and of mindfulness training in traumatic brain injury and intellectual disorders is also discussed.

Behavior analysts and clinicians treating behavior issues in individuals with traumatic brain injuries or intellectual disabilities.

The link between basic and applied branches of behavior analysis has often flowed from the laboratory to the clinical setting. This flow has led to technologies that have promoted meaningful outcomes for clients in a variety of settings. At times however, questions arise in the applied realm that are best examined in a more controlled environment. This symposium presents three talks illustrating the intersection between basic preparations and clinical practice via what is commonly coined translational research. All three talks use preparations inspired from basic research involving human participants to inform the design of interventions commonly implemented in applied settings. Two talks discuss different aspects of interventions involving conditioned reinforcers. The first talk presents data from a study which examined establishing and maintaining the effects of conditioned reinforcers. The second talk presents data examining the generalized effects of conditioned reinforcers. The third talk presents data from an investigation of delayed punishment. Specifically, the effects of a verbal rule on the efficacy of delayed punishment were evaluated

A common characteristic of individuals with developmental disabilities is a restricted range of interest. Developing procedures to establish new reinforcers could promote the acquisition of new skills and reduce decreases in motivation related to repeated presentation of the same reinforcer or natural shifts in interest. Two procedures have been reported in the research literature on establishing neutral stimuli as conditioned reinforcerspairing and the SD procedures. Few applied studies have directly evaluated the use of these procedures. Also, additional research is necessary to determine their effectiveness and whether effects can be maintained. The purpose of this study was to (a) to compare the pairing and the SD procedures in the development of conditioned reinforcers, (b) to test the effectiveness of the reinforcers using progressive ratio (PR) schedules of reinforcement, and (c) to evaluate the robustness of reinforcing effects.

Delayed punishers are typically less effective than immediate punishers at suppressing behavior. Another disadvantage is that delayed punishers may inadvertently decrease the responses they immediately follow but are not contingent upon. Occasionally, however, delayed punishers may be necessary, so developing effective strategies to maximize the effects of a delayed punisher is crucial. One strategy for increasing the suppressive effect of a delayed punisher is to provide a verbal rule describing the contingency related to the punisher. It is unclear, however, whether this strategy minimizes the effect of the delayed punisher on contiguous (but not contingent) responses, which would be particularly important from a clinical perspective. In this study, five college-age students engaged with a computer program consisting of four conditions: immediate punishment, delayed punishment, delayed rule without punishment, and delayed rule with punishment. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the addition of a verbal rule altered the effect of a delayed punisher on both contingent and contiguous responses. Results indicate that adding a verbal rule not only increased the suppressive effect of a delayed punisher on contingent responses, but also decreased the likelihood that the delayed punisher would suppress the response it immediately followed.

Self-monitoring is a core strategy nested within the evidence-based collection of self-management strategies. Self-monitoring can be used across a variety of targeted behaviors to improve meaningful outcomes such as improved academic performance, independent functioning, use of replacement behaviors and use of social skills. This session will provide an overview of self-monitoring and key components of setting up effective self-monitoring interventions. Self-monitoring studies will be presented including the effects of technology based self-monitoring on the on-task behavior of students in educational settings and on the community engagement of young adults with autism. Studies utilizing self-monitoring will be presented. The first study included a control-wait list study with 10 adults with autism. The adults increased social communication and engagement following a package of training including self-monitoring. A second set of studies utilized withdrawal designs to demonstrate functional relationships between the implementation of a technology based self-monitoring application and student engagement and academic performance. Implications for practice will be discussed.

In a study of 235 adolescents and adults with autism, only 8% were reported to have friendships (Orsmond, Krauss, & Seltzer, 2004), indicating lack of a supportive social network. Yet, there is a paucity of effective interventions to support and strengthen post-secondary outcomes and minimize risk for this population. I-Connect Plus, a combination of online instructional modules coaching, and self-monitoring seeks to fill this gap in our evidence base. Utilizing technology, I-Connect Plus provides an efficient mechanism to provide explicit training, modeling, practice in context, and systematic feedback to adolescents and adults with ASD. This preliminary wait-list control trial with 10 adults, ages 18-32, with autism evaluated the impact of I-Connect Plus on planning and increasing engagement in social activities with peers. Results indicate 8 out of 10 participants made increases in activities with friends, calling a friend, and/or texting a friend while participating in the I-Connect Plus module and coaching training. Implications for practice and future directions will be discussed.

Self-monitoring interventions (SM) have been shown to improve behaviors that contribute to progressing in school such as lesson and task completion (Foley & Epstein, 1993; Seabaugh & Schumaker, 1994). Technological innovations provide the opportunity to improve data collection procedures while reducing teacher effort in implementing and maintaining SM interventions Two studies were employed with a self-monitoring application (ICONNECT) with five students with disabilities. A single-subject ABAB withdrawal design replicated across the five students was utilized to demonstrate a functional relationship between the intervention and on task behavior as well as academic performance. In Study One: Participant one increased on-task behavior from a baseline average of 33% to 95% during intervention. Participant two increased on-task behavior from an average of 9% to 91.2% during intervention. In Study Two: Participant One increased his on-task behavior from an average of 45% to 92% during intervention. Participant Two increased his on-task behavior from an average of 58% to 97% during intervention. Participant Three increased her on-task behavior from 35% to an average of 97% during intervention. This presentation will discuss the application of this intervention and the results that occurred with these students in their school settings. Implications for future research will be discussed.

Universities hemorrhage students in remedial algebra classes, decreasing retention, enrollment, and tuition income for the school and shutting the door to higher education and upward social mobility for developmental students. Applied behavior analysts at Jacksonville State University, AL designed Fast-Forward Algebra to quickly bring conditionally admitted students up to speed in college algebra by compressing two semesters of algebra into one. In a unique effort to individualize instruction and incorporate evidence-based teaching, two Board Certified Behavior Analysts in the Department of Learning Services recruit and train psychology graduate students as graduate teaching assistants. By incorporating Precision Teaching and explicit instruction, and by emphasizing fractions throughout with specially designed flashcards and worksheets, this approach has resulted in increases in multiple student outcomes, including historically high passing rates in Intermediate Algebra, and thereby reduced developmental student attrition. The psychology graduate students are critical to the effort: While insuring treatment integrity and conducting applied research during their two-year commitment, they earn 1500 supervision hours and prepare for the Behavior Analysis Certification Board exam. They have also helped create unique supplemental materials to accompany the curriculum.

High quality mathematics instruction for students with moderate and severe disabilities continues to be important because it is suggestive of success later in life by increasing independence and employment. This presentation will review the findings from a meta-analysis of experimental studies published between 2005 and 2015 that taught mathematics to students with moderate and severe disabilities, updating the Browder, Spooner, Ahlgrim-Delzell, Harris, and Wakeman (2008) analysis. A total of 34 studies (29 single-case and 5 group experimental) were included. Of those 34 studies, most of which taught the NCTM standard of numbers and operations, 20 single-case and four group design studies received a rating of high or adequate quality using the NTACT (2015) indicator criteria, and a Tau-U statistic was used to evaluate effective size for the single-case studies (range .05 to 1.1, mean of .85). This presentation will review the extent to which included studies used established evidence-based practices and introduce the instructional procedures of technology-aided instruction, manipulatives, and explicit instruction as evidence-based practices in teaching mathematics to this population. Implications for practitioners and areas for future research will be discussed

All agencies that that serve populations with special needs must train direct care staff on an ongoing basis. Training that is provided directly by a behavioral consultant may often be limited due to time constraints. For this reason, it is worthwhile to explore the effectiveness of computer-based training programs. Computer-based training may enhance the generality of target skills since it is possible to include multiple exemplars in a single video or module; it also provides a standardized method of training multiple staff, which can help increase procedural integrity; and the training results in a permanent product that can be revisited as necessary to train new staff or as ‘booster’ training for seasoned staff. This symposium will highlight research from three labs that have incorporated a form of computer-based training to teach the following skills: 1) identification of safe eating practices for individuals with disabilities; 2) implementation of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS); and 3) visual analysis of single-case AB design graphs. Presenters will discuss limitations of the work conducted to date and propose areas for future research.

An estimated eight percent of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities have a diagnosed difficulty swallowing food or liquids (dysphagia) (Chadwick 2009). These problems raise the risk of choking and can lead to serious health problems if correct protocols around eating and drinking are not followed. It is imperative to put in place interventions that prevent choking and aspiration incidents by training Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) about meal modifications and identifying dangerous situations at mealtime. In this study we used a pretest-posttest experimental design to investigate whether a scenario-based online training combined with a fifteen-minute client protocol review statistically increased DSPs knowledge of meal modifications and their ability to identify dangerous situations in scenarios and pictures. The control group received a protocol review only. Participants were randomly assigned to the experimental and control group. After the intervention, a generalization session will be conducted to determine whether the DSPs can generalize the knowledge to their clients meal protocols. Our hypothesis is that online training combined with a client protocol review will statistically improve staffs ability to 1) follow eating and drinking protocols within presented scenarios 2) identify dangerous situations during presented scenarios 3) generalize these skills to the clients they serve and maintain over time compared to DSPs that receive a protocol review only.

Training programs for pre-service behavior analysts, and common arrangements of clinical practices, too often result in ABA being siloed from other disciplines. If we are to succeed with our mission of facilitating change globally, in all meaningful domains of our lives and environments, we must successfully integrate services and research with those in different fields. Behavior analysts might also have an ethical obligation to shed light on how we might design and re-design our "contextual fit" to meet our cultural standards. Presenters from multiple disciplines: academia, linguistics, special education, and neurology, will explore how they introduce ABA into new cultures, teach pre-service professionals to program for research and collaboration with non-behavioral providers, expand their own interdisciplinary relations, and are changed personally and professionally by the experience. Panelists will also discuss their research and efforts to integrate ABA with art therapy, ceremonial and cultural participation, and religious studies while giving consideration to scientific as well as ethical dimensions that define the field of behavior analysis. We invite professionals working in medicine, psychology, business, ecology, anthropology, religious and cultural studies, sociology, and more to share their challenges and strategies. How are you creating interdisciplinary connections, opportunities, and collaboration that strengthen relationships and result in behavior analysis being integrated in larger initiatives and with other fields?

Human memory evolved subject to the constraints of nature's criterion: differential survival and reproduction. Consequently, our capacity to remember and forget is likely tuned to solving fitness-based problems, particularly those prominent in ancestral environments. Do the operating characteristics of memory continue to bear the footprint of nature's criterion? Are there mnemonic "tunings" rooted in the remnants of a stone-age brain? Work from the presenter's laboratory suggests that: (1) processing information for its survival relevance leads to superior long-term retention, better, in fact, than most known learning techniques; (2) animate (living) stimuli are remembered much better than matched inanimate (nonliving) stimuli; and (3) stimuli that have been potentially contaminated by disease are remembered especially well. Understanding how memory is used to solve adaptive problems relevant to fitness, the presenter argues, provides critical insight into how and why human memory systems formed, and why they work the way they do.

Licensed Psychologists, certified behavior analysts, graduate students.

Intimate Partner Violence is a social problem that impacts more than 12 million Americans per year, accounts for 15% of all violent crime, and costs the United States an estimated 8 billion dollars per year. Despite the gravity of this problem, behavior analysts have been largely silent on the topic. This paper explores the contingencies for maintaining abusive behavior as well as interventions in place to attempt to change abusive behavior. Suggestions for future research in this area, as well as obstacles to such research, will be discussed. A systematic review of current batterer intervention programs will be presented, along with ideas for improvement amongst these programs, using evidence-based practices for effective behavior change. The call to action from Meyers (1995) did not promote action by our field, but we have an ethical obligation as a field to act, and act now. We need to fulfill Skinners vision: that the study of human behavior can bring about large changes for mankind. Venturing into areas of human behavior that are incredibly challenging is a necessary first step in further realizing his vision.

This paper will outline and analyze the socio-cultural contingencies that maintain honor crimes as a cultural practice and their role in cultural survival from a macrocontingency and macrobehavior level and offer number of recommendations to reduce this cultural practice taking Jordan as a case study. The notion that religion, mainly Islam, enforced honor crimes is a misconception. Honor crimes are committed in any case a female shames her family by having premarital sexual relationship(s), misfortunate behavior or when a wife has an adulterous affair. Many families deal with this covertly and quietly far from the interference of any form of authority by choosing a family male member usually the father, brother or in some cases an uncle to "cleanse" the family's honor by murdering the female who "dishonored" the family. Number of macrocontingencies shared in the Arab world that may lead to these crimes: gossip and rumor, victim of rape, pregnant out of wedlock, marrying against family wishes, inheritance, missing from home, talking to a man who is not a family member, caught in an act of prostitution or in a brothel, external tribal and cultural influence, illiteracy and unemployment on part of the perpetuator. Number of recommendations are suggested in this paper to reduce this cultural practice in Jordan as: to change the law related to honor crimes in Jordan, the King forces change, the media highlight the fact that honor crimes are a cultural practice not a religious one, to change regulations related to Correctional and Rehabilitation center.

Behavior analysts recognize the importance of incorporating motivation and reinforcement within service delivery. Additionally, behavior analytic treatment programs incorporate effective function based procedures to increase compliance with demands and decrease escape maintained challenging behavior. These procedures often include forced physical prompting and paced prompts that may increase the occurrence of challenging behavior or reduce acceptance of the procedures by caregivers and staff. This symposium explores potential ethical alternatives to traditional escape extinction using 7 Steps to Earning Instructional Control, wait-outs, and conditioning work as a reinforcer that address the problems behavior analysts face with traditional escape extinction procedures in discrete trial programming.

Behavior analytic intervention programs frequently include the use of forced prompting to earn compliance with demands and reduce escape maintained challenging behavior. This approach is effective but can result in an increase in challenging behavior if the challenging behavior is also maintained by attention or can be difficult to implement with clients who are larger in size. Additionally, caregivers and staff may not accept the use of forced prompting and may not implement the procedure during the naturally occurring routine, which also reduces the effectiveness of the procedure. The purpose of this presentation is to explore ethical considerations regarding the use of forced prompting by drawing from the BACB Guidelines for Responsible Conduct and Van Houten et al. (1988). Additionally, the presentation will explore how the 7 Steps to Earning Instructional Control addresses these ethical considerations and whether research in the basic or applied areas supports alternatives to forced prompting such as the 7 Steps as viable options for reducing escape maintained challenging behavior.

Escape-avoidance behavior is a common impediment to skill acquisition and a frequent maintaining variable for a variety of behavioral excesses. While a great number of antecedent interventions (e.g., demand fading, student choice, errorless teaching) can decrease problem behavior levels, escape- avoidance behaviors do not immediately drop to zero levels, and reactive measures invariably account for some part of the behavior intervention plan. Among potential reactive treatments, escape extinction has the greatest empirical support and is typically recommended. This presentation will demonstrate the efficacy of an alternative to escape extinction in 3 studies across 5 participants. In this procedure, task resistance is followed by a temporary withdrawal of that task and a substantial limit upon student options until the task has been completed. Though counter-intuitive (because escape-maintained behavior produces temporary escape), this procedure, colloquially known as a wait out, tends to not only decrease escape-maintained behavior, but also to improve a number of qualities of student participation. Participants will learn the rationales behind the use of wait and will see examples of how to implement the procedure.

Scientific examination of strategies that produce emergent verbal behavior is significant with respect to the potential conceptual and applied contributions to the field of Behavior Analysis and even to fields outside of Behavior Analysis. These strategies can inform important decisions regarding educational practices and can contribute to narratives and research related to stimulus control. One study compared a stimulus equivalence online teaching protocol to a standard online teaching protocol to teach single-subject research design to graduate students. A second study evaluated a mand-based training protocol to a tact- and two intraverbal-based training protocols to teach foreign language words to typically developing adults. A third study investigated the role of tact and intraverbal training in developing intraverbal naming, and the mediating effects of intraverbal naming in the formation of generalized equivalence classes in undergraduate students. A final study conducted two experiments and investigated the effects of an auditory pairing procedure on the emergence of tacts, selection responses, and intraverbals to teach information about musical instruments to 24 typically developing adults.

We analyzed the emergence of tacts, selections, and intraverbals after observing paired auditory stimuli. In Experiment 1, 12 typical developing adults were randomly assigned to two experimental conditions. In Part 1, four sounds of musical instruments were paired with their respective names spoken by the experimenter; in Part 2, the sounds were paired with their native country names. Participants in Condition 1 received Part 1 first; participants in Condition 2 received Part 2 first. After pairing, the emergence of tacts was probed. When the tacts emerged, the selections were probed. After Parts 1 and 2, the intraverbals were probed. In Experiment 2, 12 novel adults received a similar sequence, but after pairing the selections were probed and after reaching criterion the tacts were probed. The results indicate that probing the tacts or the selections after each pairing phase does not influence emergence in adults; pairing first the sound and the name and then the sound and the country seems to produce more instances of naming than pairing first the sound and the country and then pairing the sound and the name. The findings have direct implications on the teaching procedures to facilitate these types of emergence.

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the role of intraverbal naming on the emergence of generalized equivalence classes. Seventeen undergraduates were exposed to tact training with 3 stimulus sets (A1B1C1, A2B2C2, and A3B3C3) and baseline intraverbal training (A?B? and B?C?). Formation of equivalence classes was assessed using visual-visual matching-to-sample (MTS) tasks and intraverbal tests for symmetrical (BA, B?A?, CB, C?B?) and transitive relations (AC, A?C?, CA, C?A?). Generalization MTS posttests were then presented for 4 untrained sets of stimuli. Thirteen participants passed all MTS and intraverbal posttests. Two of the remaining 4 required either tact or intraverbal remedial training in order to achieve passing criterion. Performance improved for 5 participants during the vocal MTS posttest. These findings show the efficacy of tact and intraverbal training in the formation of generalized equivalence classes. Overall, results suggest verbal mediation strategies (i.e., intraverbal naming) may have facilitated MTS performance.

Euthanasia of adoptable animals is a prevalent problem in animal shelters across the nation (The Humane Society of the United States: HSUS, 2014). Of the 6 to 8 million pets being relinquished, only half (i.e., 3 to 4 million) are adopted yearly (HSUS). In order to decrease the number of animals euthanized each year, it is important to determine what factors affect the likelihood of adoption. One such factor that decreases the likelihood of adoption is the noise in the shelter environment (Copolla et al., 2006). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a respondent conditioning procedure on the reduction of noise in the kennel area of a California-based animal shelter. We conditioned the sound of a door chime (CS) with the delivery of food (UCS) to elicit a salivary response (CR), which is partially incompatible with barking. Baseline measures indicated that the sound in the shelter was louder than the volume needed to cause hearing loss over prolonged exposure (85dB). Results of the respondent conditioning procedure showed that the noise level decreased below this threshold. Implications and future directions are discussed.

A variety of traditional high and low technological applications (smart boards, communication devices, picture schedules, timers) have long shaped the way special educators approach the education of persons with disabilities. The use of smart phones, tablets, and the ubiquitous Internet to teach are now widely accepted practices, have become routine and can often be found integrated into core curriculum, all with the great expectation that the new technology will result in significant gains in knowledge and competence. Much like the typically developing population, individuals with disabilities are increasingly relying upon their I Phones to make them more independent in their daily functioning. Recent advances in both hardware and software have greatly expanded the affordability, portability and wearability of technological devices. As technology continues to develop, the potential for evolutionary applications to advance solutions of some of the most daunting challenges to identify functions of behavior, frame effective intervention and increase staff competencies is great. However, the empirical research database is deficient with studies demonstrating the effectiveness of this new technology. Although educators use technology with abandon, technology is not yet firmly identified as evidenced-based practice, particularly with the older learner. The papers in this symposium will provide data-based empirical investigations on two examples of the use of advanced technology to teach. The first paper will comprehensively review the existing research regarding the use of technology to teach and whether there is an empirical basis to support these practices. The second paper investigates the use of wireless audio and live streamed video to train staff to competently implement instructional protocols with learners with autism. The third paper focuses on evaluating the biophysical correlates associated with self-injurious behavior, attempting to demonstrate possible variables that might aid in the reduction of such problems through the use of a FitBit.

Special educators have long used technology in the education of persons with disabilities. Smart boards, communication devices, picture schedules, and timers are examples of technological strategies to teach and maintain a variety of academic, communication, and social skills. As the technology has evolved, there is currently a new generation of personal technology devices that have great potential for supporting the education of these individuals. For example, smart phones, tablets, and the ubiquitous Internet can be used to support individuals with disabilities and make them more independent in their daily functioning. These devices are being used extensively in the education of special learners, with teachers purchasing IPads, loading them with education apps, and teaching the learners to use these devices, all with the great expectation that the new technology will result in significant gains in knowledge and competence. This paper reviews the breadth and depth of technological educational strategies. Technology was classified into its abilities, the skills needed to use, the skills it targets to teach, and the characteristics of the user. A review of the literature on the degree of evidence of effectiveness showed that technology is not the panacea and promise initially believed. There is little empirical investigation of its effectiveness, and the results are mixed. Conclusions will be drawn about the future use of technology, future research studies, and the extent to which skills can be supported by these new strategies.

Over the next 10-15 years, approximately 800,000 children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis will be entering adulthood. Services for adults are likely to be decentralized with training taking place in various community settings; such as vocational environments, restaurants, exercise facilities, offices, hospitals, and during recreational activities. In adult services, the physical distance of various community placements, coupled with additional administrative and clincial responsibilities, may influence supervisors to selectively choose which programs and interventions to supervise based on the above constraints rather than the needs of students and staff. Fortunately, there is an increasing research database showing that various technologies can be successful in training and supporting staff. The purpose of this studey was to use a live-streaming device to train staff to implement instructional protocols while teaching adults with ASD across various community settings. Specifically, board certified behavior analysts listened in and viewed via a live streaming device instruction of learners and were able to provide immediate feedback to the staff to improve the fidelity to the instructional protocols. Using a multiple baseline design across participants, the findings showed that supervisors could effectively supervise staff from a distance using the live streaming technology and offer staff support that in turn reduced staff errors and increased fidelity of programming.

About half of our children diagnosed with ADHD will continue to experience noteworthy difficulties well into adulthood. The patterns of poor attention and impulsiveness emitted by these individuals frequently cause problems in school, on the job, with the law, and in relationships. Yet best practices for adults diagnosed with ADHD have yet to be established. The papers in this symposium cover two unconventional interventions aimed at emerging adults diagnosed with ADHD within the college settingan ideal environment for shaping new adaptive behaviors. In the first paper, Benjamin Ramos will present on a self-protective bias often found in individuals diagnosed with ADHD. He will examine how performance in a Go/NoGo task was impacted by the bias of derived causal efficacy. In the second paper, Solomon Kurz will present on the effects of meditation practice on relevant symptoms for a small group of college students diagnosed with ADHD. The idiographic analyses will primarily focus on how morning meditation predicts attention and impulsivity throughout that day and into the next. Both presenters will discuss how their findings might inform how we can improve attention and heedfulness in adults diagnosed with ADHD, in the future.

Though ADHD has traditionally been approached as a problem of childhood and adolescence, about a half of our youth diagnosed with ADHD continue to experience difficulties well into adulthood. Because of our historical perspective, researchers have not yet established best practices for serving emerging adults diagnosed with ADHD, such as those entering college. Over the past decade, clinical researchers have proposed several therapeutic interventions, many of which are variants of cognitive-behavioral therapy. However, there is budding evidence that cheaper options, like mindfulness meditation, are also effective. For the present study, we will present daily-diary data from college students who were diagnosed with ADHD and who participated in a semester-long meditation group. For each individual, we will examine how minutes meditated influenced ADHD difficulties and functional impairment, from day to day. Our main analytic approach will be with single-subject statistics based on the dynamic p-technique. We will highlight both idiographic processes and general trends across participants. Future directions will include additional variables of interest, improvements for the group structure, and comments on the general methodology.

Identification of preferred stimuli is critical for effective intervention programs for individuals with disabilities, as this is often the first step in the identification of reinforcing stimuli. Direct preference assessments have been the gold standard for identification of preferred stimuli among individuals not capable of vocally expressing preferences. In this symposium, we present research regarding the advances in the application of preference assessments. The first presentation will introduce a new methodology for assessing preferences for social interactions. Results indicate that videos may be used to represent social interactions in a paired choice preference assessment; moreover, results of the preference assessment correlate with reinforcer value as measured by a progressive-ratio schedule assessment. The second presentation will address considerations in scheduling preference assessments prior to learning trials. Results indicate that stimulus preference remain steady across short periods of time. The final discussion will summarize these studies and highlight the applied value of the results.

It is possible that available preference assessment technologies do not fully capture momentary shifts in preference. This experiment evaluated the differential effects of three Multiple Stimulus Without Replacement (MSWO) preference assessment variations on the performance of four participants with developmental disabilities on a mastered task. No discernible difference was demonstrated via visual analysis between the Five Pre-Session Choices condition and the Five Within-Session Choices condition across all four participants for the first 10 data points. This was demonstrated through lack of differentiation between data paths in a multielement experimental design for the dependent variables of Latency to Initiation, Total Task Duration, Percentage Correct Responses, and No-Responses. Results suggested that the timing of choice opportunities did not appreciably impact reinforcer efficacy. Subsequently, a One Pre-Session Choice condition was initiated to evaluate the efficacy of a preference assessment method with lower practitioner response effort as a means to increase social validity. The introduction of this condition also resulted in undifferentiated data across all participants. Future research should continue to evaluate the effect of choice timing on reinforcer efficacy, utilizing variations of this protocol.

Individuals with Down syndrome show a distinct behavioral phenotype characterized by relative weakness in expressive language and relative strengths in social interest. The characteristic phenotype of individuals with Down syndrome develops early in infancy with delays in the duration and frequency of exploratory motor behavior (manipulating a toy in the hand) and in the onset of babbling, speech sounds and vocal imitation. We present a behavior-analytic model, which explains the early differences in exploratory motor and speech sounds. Using this model, we examined interventions for infants with Down syndrome. A behavior-analytic intervention involving multiple opportunities, prompting, and social reinforcement was used to teach three infants with Down syndrome between 5-9 months of age to emit exploratory motor behavior with the same frequency and duration as typically developing infants. We also examined contingent vocal imitation as a reinforcer to increase the rate of babbling in infants with Down syndrome. The importance of these findings and collateral changes in related skill areas will be discussed.

Maximizing outcomes for learners with Down syndrome requires an approach which is both effective and efficient. Modifying the intensity of intervention has the potential to affect the rate of skill acquisition as well as other learner behavior, such as task persistence, which alters the efficiency of intervention. We will discuss the results of study which determined the effect of varying intensity levels of discrete-trial instruction on acquisition and task persistence for young children with Down syndrome. Three children with Down syndrome were taught expressive language targets using three manipulations of intervention intensity (dose): the number of opportunities, the spacing of opportunities, and the session duration. We measured the effects of intensity on skill acquisition and task persistence (off-task behavior and affect). Children acquired targets faster in conditions in which the spacing of opportunities was shorter than conditions in which the spacing was longer. Manipulating dose produced individual differences during the different intensity levels in the two measures of task persistence.

Parents and professionals typically report problem behavior (e.g., aggression, self-injury, tantrums) as their greatest concern regarding their children with fragile X syndrome (FXS). However, there is currently a paucity of applied intervention research to reduce problem behavior and improve quality of life in this population. We will discuss the results of our study which explored whether behaviorally-based assessment and intervention targeting specific problematic contexts would result in a reduction in problem behavior and an improvement in quality of life for three children with FXS and their families. Based on the results of a functional assessment, a multi-component intervention plan was developed to teach the parents and child to effectively cope with the problematic context. A multiple baseline design was used to demonstrate intervention effects for specific high-priority contexts (bedtime, running errands, and toileting) in home and community settings. Following intervention, there were substantial improvements in problem behavior and family quality of life for all three participants within the targeted contexts. Results demonstrated that many of the behaviors observed in children with FXS are amenable to behavioral interventions that involve altering the antecedents and consequences related to such behaviors. We will also present data comparing direct versus indirect prompting in FXS.

Impulsive behavior is at the center of attention of educators and clinicians alike. Behavior analysts have a long tradition in the experimental study about the variables which yield impulsive behavior and the alternative and more socially acceptable and otherwise relevant behavior, known as self control. This symposium comprises three papers representing current research on self control and its controlling variables. One paper investigates the effects of equalization and non-equalization of inter trial intervals on self control performance of children. Another paper aims to study the effects of larger and smaller reinforcers chosen via a pre experimental assessment to investigate the effects of mediating responses on self control of small children. A third paper implemented a self-monitoring system as an intervention for inappropriate body movements along with a differential reinforcement of lower rates of responses component. All papers contribute to the understanding of the variables responsible for self control and bring important implications to the development of more effective educational procedures and to conceptual issues regarding the behavioral definition of self control.

Under the paradigm of concurrent choices, self-control is understood as the choice of delayed and larger consequences in detriment of choices of immediate and smaller consequences. Previous research indicates that the duration of inter-trial intervals affect the choice behavior of delayed consequences, among other variables. A common procedure to increase experimental control over what determines choice consists of equalizing trial duration. The present study aims to investigate, in a single subject design, the effect of equalization and non-equalization of inter-trial intervals over self-control in four pre-scholar children with normal development, aged between 3 and 4 years. The study is structured in five phases: Simple Discrimination Training (SDT), Reinforcement Amount Training (RAT), Delay Reinforcement Training (DRT) and Interval Between Trials Equated with reversal of equalization (NE-EI). Results show that participants chose larger reinforcements in 100% of trials during RAT Phase. During DRT Phase, choices on delayed consequences stabilized on 33% along three sessions and the participant obtained 10 reinforcers per session (4 minutes each session). During NEI Phase, choices on delayed consequences stabilized on 50% and the participant obtained 12 reinforcers per session (5 minutes each session). Results suggest that on NEI phase occurred maximization of number of reinforcers per session time. Keywords: self-control, inter-trial intervals, delayed consequences.

We used a reversal design to evaluate the effects of a DRL plus self-monitoring system on decreasing inappropriate body movements (IBM) in a young male with autism. Baseline data indicated that inappropriate body movements ranged between 14 and 34 occurrences each day. A trial- based functional analysis revealed IBM were multiply maintained by automatic reinforcement, access to tangibles, and attention. Thus self-monitoring would allow the implementation of an intervention when the participant was alone, as well as during instruction. First, discrimination training was used to teach the participant to score when IBM occurred while watching video segments of himself and then in-vivo. Self-monitoring training in-vivo showed that the self-monitoring system acquired stimulus control over IBM, in that IBM were more likely to occur in the absence of the system than in its presence. Therefore, we implemented the self-monitoring system across the day as an intervention for IBM along with a DRL component. We demonstrated the effectiveness of the DRL+ self-monitoring system within a reversal design when reliable changes in IBM occurred when the intervention was applied and removed. With the implementation of the intervention, IBM decreased to under five occurrences.

The Performance Diagnostic Checklist Human Services (PDC-HS) is an informant-based tool designed to assess the environmental variables that contribute to poor employee performance in human service settings. Although the PDC-HS has been shown to be effective in diagnosing potential variables maintaining problem performance, it is yet unclear whether a function-based intervention identified by the PDC-HS is the only intervention that is likely to work. In the current study, the PDC-HS was administered to various supervisors to assess the potential variables maintaining low levels of providing opportunities to use verbal operants with 3 therapist-client dyads. Three of the four PDC-HS domains were evaluated. Various non-indicated interventions from the different PDC-HS domains were implemented prior to implementing an indicated intervention. Results show that the PDC-HS-indicated interventions were more effective than the PDC-HS non-indicated interventions for each dyad. Results are discussed in terms of the utility of the PDC-HS to identify appropriate interventions to manage therapist performance in human service settings.

Supplementary, contingent pay arrangements can result in improved employee productivity and may lead to the development of more efficient performance improvement plans in organizational settings. In Experiment 1, we examined the effects of various stimulus delivery arrangements on performance in a computer-based task in a simulated work context. Participants entered hypothetical client data onto a Microsoft Excel invoice and earned gift-cards for task completion according to the following four conditions: (a) fixed-ratio/high-preference stimuli (FR/HiP), (b) variable-ratio/high-preference stimuli (VR/HiP), (c) fixed-ratio/varied stimuli (FR/Var), and (d) variable-ratio/varied stimuli (VR/Var). For both participants, constant access to their highest preferred stimulus delivered under a fixed-ratio schedule produced the greatest increases in performance relative to baseline. In a second experiment, we evaluated participant preference to perform under the four stimulus delivery arrangements using a concurrent-chains schedule. Results of the preference assessment indicated that one of the participants' preference did not correspond with the stimulus condition that resulted in the highest levels of task completion or reinforcers earned during the performance evaluation.

While there is a strong consensus that applied behavior analysis (ABA) is an effective treatment for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), evidence also indicates variation in individual response to treatment. Several factors have been suggested to have an effect on ABA treatment outcomes. Some factors are specific to the child at the start of treatment (e.g., age, IQ, symptom severity, and skill level), while other factors are treatment specific (e.g., treatment intensity and treatment duration). The present studies evaluate the effects of treatment specific factors on outcomes in large and geographically diverse samples of children with ASD receiving ABA services in community-based settings. These studies investigate the relationship between treatment intensity and skill acquisition, the effects of treatment hours on outcomes across all areas of a comprehensive treatment program, and the impact of features of supervision (i.e., supervision intensity, supervisor credentials, years of experience, and caseload) on skill acquisition. The findings of these studies have significant implications on treatment delivery practices and the optimization of treatment response.

Ample research has revealed that high intensity applied behavior analysis (ABA) treatment (i.e., 30-40 hours per week) significantly improves outcomes of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, relatively few studies have directly compared higher with lower intensity treatment or investigated these effects across all domains. Two studies were conducted with groups of children receiving behavioral intervention in community-based settings. The first study evaluated the relationship between treatment intensity and learning. A regression analysis was conducted with 810 children between 1.5 and 12 years of age. Results indicated a strong linear relationship between treatment intensity and skill acquisition, where a greater number of treatment hours consistently predicted greater progress over time. The second study examined the relationship between treatment intensity and outcomes within eight treatment domains. A multiple regression analysis was conducted with 599 children. While positive effects were observed across all treatment domains, the greatest effects based on treatment intensity were seen for language, play, and academic skills, and the weakest effects seen for adaptive skills, executive function, and cognition. Treatment duration showed a relatively week impact on outcomes. These findings support existing evidence of the benefits of high intensity ABA treatment programs for children with ASD.

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is a well-established treatment for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While ample research has shown the benefits of high treatment intensity, very little research has investigated the role of supervision intensity or other elements of supervision in treatment outcomes. The present study examined the relationship between ABA treatment response and supervision intensity, supervisor credentials, years of experience, and caseload in a large and geographically diverse sample of children receiving ABA services in community-based settings. The present analysis included 663 children with ASD. A multiple linear regression analysis was performed to evaluate the impact of supervision and treatment intensity on learning outcomes. When analyzed together, supervision and treatment intensity accounted for slightly more of the observed variance than therapy hours alone. Additional regression analyses were conducted to evaluate the effect of supervisor credentials, years of experience, and caseload. Supervisor credentials were found to have a significant impact on treatment outcome. Supervisor years of experience and caseload were unexpectedly not found to have a meaningful relationship to skill acquisition. These findings provide guidance for best practice recommendations.

Dr. Campbell has conducted extensive research into the influence of dietary and other behavioral interventions as they relate to cardiovascular health, longevity, cancer and diabetes prevention, and a host of other medical benefits. He is a leading scholar and authority on the role of diet and lifestyle changes in the prevention and treatment of disease. He and his father published The China Study in 2005. The book details the groundbreaking work that he has completed with his father in the area of the prevalence of cancer and its relation to our dietary habits.

Licensed Psychologists, certified behavior analysts, graduate students.

In 2009, Congress gave the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to limit the nicotine content of combusted tobacco products. Decades of research suggest that nicotine is the primary cause of tobacco addiction and that reducing nicotine might reduce the rate and/or prevalence of smoking and have a dramatic impact on public health. This presentation will focus on recent clinical and preclinical data that addresses the potential benefits and risks of reducing nicotine as a regulatory approach. Clinical studies indicate that marked reduction in the nicotine content of cigarettes lead to fewer cigarettes smoked per day and reduced nicotine dependence with little evidence of compensatory smoking. Preclinical data from rat models of nicotine self-administration indicate that nicotine reduction would likely also decrease the initiation of use amongst nicotine na?ve adolescent users and that other non-nicotine constituents of tobacco smoke have little effect on behavior. The primary exception is MAO inhibition, which appears to shift the dose-response curve for self-administration to the left when the cost is low (i.e., low fixed ratio). Together, these data add to a growing literature that suggests that regulated reductions in nicotine may have a positive impact on behavior and health. Funding: Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and FDA Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) (U54 DA031659). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH or the Food and Drug Administration.

Licensed Psychologists, certified behavior analysts, graduate students.

Aggregations of single-case research studies are useful in assessing the external validity of evidence in a given area. Aggregations of the literature can provide behavior analysts with a cohesive understanding of a certain practice; they can also inform us of the most effective treatments demonstrated for a specific domain of behavior. This symposium includes quantitative syntheses and meta-analyses of single-case literature on specific interventions (i.e., errorless teaching and embedding preferences) as well as on certain domains of behavior (i.e., academic skills and functional living skills). All of these reviews are focused on learning in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Individuals with ASD face unique challenges in learning and development. A common purpose to each of the reviews here is to identify the current state of the evidence for individual practices. Standards for aggregating and analyzing single-case research have undergone much refinement in recent years. Meta-analytic reviews of single-case research are only recently becoming prevalent in the special education and applied behavior analytic literature. Thus, this symposium will be useful for attendees with interest in educational interventions for individuals with ASD as well as for those interested in advancements in methods for study aggregation.

This review of single-case research is on interventions aiming to enhance academic/pre-academic skills and/or task completion and engagement during academic contexts for children with ASD in school settings. Forty-eight studies published between 1995 and 2014 were included. These articles were coded according to (a) design; (b) participant demographics; (c) setting type; (d) intervention type and implementer; (e) duration and dosage; (f) outcomes; (g) inter-rater reliability, social validity, treatment integrity, and (h) generalization and maintenance. Tau-U was used to determine overlap indices for each study and across intervention categories of literacy, math, science, social studies, engagement and task completion, and prerequisite skills. Findings showed that most studies included students in grades K-12. The mean Tau-U score across all studies was moderate to high (Tau-U = 0.74, range 0.15 - 1.00). All interventions were effective or very effective in improving targeted pre-academic or academic skills. Interventions targeting task engagement and completion had the lowest mean Tau-U (Tau-U = 0.59); approximately half of the interventions were not effective for improving task engagement and completion (Tau-U = 0.65). These results reveal the need for further research targeting academic skills for preschool students with ASD and interventions targeting on task engagement and completion.

Errorless learning, or errorless teaching, is a technology that has been developed as a way to teach individuals with autism a variety of skills. The purpose of this systematic review was to review the extant literature on errorless teaching procedures that have been used with individuals with autism. Our goal was to determine which forms of errorless teaching have been researched and what the effects of each form were in terms of learning outcomes. We conducted a comprehensive search using 7 databases and studies were included in the review if they included participants with autism, were primary research, were written in English, and directly tested the effects of errorless teaching procedures. Twenty studies met the inclusion criteria and we conducted an independent appraisal of the results and methodological quality of each study (based of the What Works Clearinghouse Procedures and Standards Handbook). We found that five different forms of errorless teaching have been researched and that, in general, errorless teaching procedures are effective at teaching discrete skills to individuals with autism. We also found that errorless procedures seem to produce learning slower than non-errorless procedures in terms of sessions to mastery. Implications for research and practice will be discussed.

A body of research has explored how embedding interests into the learning environment by modifying aspects of the original activity may facilitate positive outcomes in an area of need for individuals with ASD. We reviewed this literature base to (a) determine the quality of the evidence and (b) evaluate potential moderators of results according to variations in participant characteristics and dependent variables. Studies were included that targeted participants with ASD, included quantitative data, and compared conditions with high- versus lesser-preferred objects/activities embedded into the environment. Studies were rated on quality and evidence using two rubrics. A total of 21 studies with 86 participants were included. Thirteen studies with 42 participants targeted children in early childhood, 12 of which were single-case studies with 28 participants and 74 effects/targeted dependent variables. In evaluating the quality of this initial sample of studies, findings were mixed. There was emerging support among studies targeting social-communication type skills (e.g., joint attention). It is possible that stereotyped or repetitive behaviors associated with restricted interests of children with ASD could deter the effects of this intervention at times, such as during instructor-led activities. Professionals should structure the environment to monitor added benefit when considering use of this intervention.

This systematic review and meta-analysis analyzed peer-reviewed research concerning the generalization and maintenance of functional-living skills for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Following the application of predetermined inclusion criteria, 31 articles (containing 32 studies) were reviewed and summarized in terms of: (a) generalization dimension, (b) generalization assessment design, (c) maintenance assessment design, (d) maintenance and generalization teaching strategy, and (e) latency to maintenance probes. Using Tau effect size and post-hoc analyses, the type of generalization and maintenance teaching strategies were analyzed as potential moderators. Outcomes identified strong effects for generalization strategies employed. Resulting maintenance effects demonstrated strong effects for baseline to maintenance contrasts. Negative effects for the train and hope method were identified using intervention to maintenance contrasts. Results indicated statistically significant findings supporting the use of training in a natural setting and training to a criterion as compared to the train and hope strategy. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Treatment integrity is the extent to which interventionists implement treatment procedures as prescribed. Treatment integrity errors can adversely affect treatment effectiveness and impede learning for individuals with disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder. It is important to develop and refine methods of identifying treatment integrity errors and teaching staff to implement procedures consistent with their prescribed protocols. This symposium focuses on describing procedures for assessing treatment integrity, and for teaching staff to implement procedures as prescribed. Brand will present the results from a study in which a conditional probability analysis identified and quantified between-trials treatment integrity errors that occurred during discrete-trial teaching error-correction procedures. Abby will detail a study focused on the use of enhanced data sheets when assessing treatment integrity in conditional discrimination training. Luck will describe a study comparing the effectiveness of and preference for three different feedback strategies when training special education teachers (written, vocal, & video-feedback). Coln-Kwedor will present the results from two studies containing a comprehensive analysis of treatment integrity with response interruption and redirection in both naturalistic and experimental settings. These methods were effective in identifying treatment errors and teaching procedures to staff.

Treatment integrity is the extent to which interventionists implement treatment procedures consistent with their prescribed protocol. Research shows that DTT is most effective when administered with high levels of treatment integrity. The majority of treatment integrity research involving discrete-trial teaching (DTT) focuses on treatment integrity on a within-trial basis. However, treatment integrity errors can also occur on a between-trials basis. The aim of the study was to use conditional probability matrices to identify and quantify between-trials treatment integrity errors occurring during error-correction procedures. We video-recorded therapy sessions for three therapist-learner dyads at the time and place where DTT sessions usually took place. The learners were children with autism spectrum disorders who received DTT as part of their regular teaching programs. The conditional probability matrices were effective in identifying and quantifying error-correction treatment integrity errors. Also, we found that high levels of within-trial treatment integrity did not correspond to high levels of treatment integrity for the error-correction procedures.

Green (2001) and Grow and LeBlanc (2012) described practice recommendations for conducting conditional discrimination training. Grow and LeBlanc provide an example of a data sheet with the preset target stimulus for each trial along with a counterbalanced three-item array of comparison stimuli to enhance the accuracy of implementation of the recommended practices. The current study evaluated the recommendation that the enhanced data sheet might lead to higher procedural integrity on these practice recommendations compared to a standard data sheet (i.e., targets and arrays are not pre-set). Behavior therapists from two provider agencies were randomly assigned to the standard data sheet or the enhanced data sheet (e.g., Grow & LeBlanc example) condition. Participants watched a short video on the practice recommendations for a matching task and an orientation to the data sheet for the assigned condition. He or she then used the assigned data sheet while implementing the matching task with a confederate serving in the role of the child with autism. Currently, 22 participants have completed the study (11 per condition) and the final sample will include 40 total participants. The enhanced data sheet produced higher procedural implementation on each of the four targeted practice recommendations.

This study compared the effectiveness of and preference for three different feedback strategies when training six special education teachers during a 5-day summer training program. In Study 1, teachers received written or vocal feedback while learning to implement two different types of preference assessments (paired-stimulus and multiple-stimulus-without-replacement). Written feedback was more effective than vocal feedback for three teachers and vocal feedback was more effective than written feedback for two teachers. In Study 2, we compared the most effective feedback strategy from Study 1 to video-assisted feedback while training the teachers to implement two forms of discrete trial training, one involving least-to-most prompting and the other involving most-to-least prompting. Video-assisted feedback was the most effective method for three teachers and vocal feedback was the most effective for one teacher. However, vocal feedback was the most preferred method for all of the teachers. Results have important implications for the use of feedback with teachers.

Training staff to teach skills beyond the basic verbal operants involves consideration of conceptual, social and training variables. Four papers will be presented that review considerations for training peer to peer interactions, conceptual considerations related to speech perception, and two papers describing large group competency based trainings for conceptual and procedural skills relevant to complex verbal behavior for teachers of students with autism. The first study includes a description of training systems relevant to peer to peer verbal interactions focused on a manding treatment package consisting of the use of differential reinforcement and time delay procedures to effect the rate of unprompted peer mands in individuals with autism and intellectual disabilities. A behavioral interpretation of the McGurk Effect will relate conceptual issues relevant to training staff in skills related to observational skills of vocal verbal behavior. The McGurk effect is an auditory and visual phenomena in which what is seen effects what is heard. The final two papers summarize outcome data from large scale trainings focused on having staff acquire implementation skills for procedures derived from advanced concepts in verbal behavior including joint control, extended tacts, and verbal conditional discriminations.

The McGurk Effect is a perceptual phenomenon in which the combination of discrepant visual and auditory speech stimuli (e.g,. hear-ba/see-ga) produces the reports of hearing a completely novel response form (e.g., "a"). The present study attempted to explain the McGurk Effect and related phenomena in terms of principles of behavior. Skinner (1953) proposed that perception itself is behavior, and interpreting experimental results within the framework of experimentally validated behavioral principles may help to guide future research on perceptual phenomena. Additionally, the present study contributed to the analysis of the McGurk
Effect by comparing results from a discrepant isolated syllable condition (e.g., hear-ba/see-ga) with a second condition, in which the isolated syllables were presented to participants as the initial sounds of responses existing within their verbal repertoires (e.g., hear-BUST/see-GUST). The results supported the authors' hypothesis that the McGurk Effect would be stronger when syllables were presented in isolation than when they were presented in the context of whole words. Implications for training staff in observing vocal behavior will be discusse.

Outcomes of a large scale training effort for public school autism teachers in Pennsylvania include data on acquisition of conceptual skills and specific teaching programs will be presented. This session will review the structure and rationale for methods for teaching staff to implement protocols such as generative responding for tacts of actions and features, tacts of class of items and transfer to intraverbal responses. Includes description of training methods and outcomes for specific methods for developing participant conceptual competencies for extended tacts and concept development, joint control processes and issues related to verbal conditional discriminations. Training methods have included multiple formats for participant responding including choral responding, guided notes, and analogue demonstration of specific procedures. The training model has been implemented with public school teachers serving students with autism. The training represents efforts of the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network Autism Initiative. Training participants have included a wide range of professionals employed in public schools including teachers, para-educators and various support staff including school psychologists and speech and language clinicians.

This session will review data and processes involved in the transfer of training competencies from large scale analogue training sessions to actual classroom practices. The role and function of on-site consultation from behavioral consultants involved in the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network Applied Behavior Analysis Supports effort in supporting teams in implementing protocols related to complex verbal behavior will be presented. Consideration of the design of training includes structure of training content related to efficient data collection and analysis that can be adopted in school settings that typically do not include clinical practice staff to student ratios. Additionally, methods to insure treatment integrity for teaching protocols related to target skills such as generative responding for tacts of actions and features, tacts of class of items and transfer to intraverbal responses will be described. The data will be related to a process established to promote system-wide acceptance of behavior analytic processes for teaching complex skills.

Each paper represents a systematic approach to addressing types of behavioral excesses and deficits with individuals diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The first paper addresses a unique type of restricted and repetitive behavior that includes patterned initial-link (preference) selections during the free-choice phase of a concurrent-chains schedule. Smith et al. used a discovery-oriented approach to evaluate a method of disrupting patterned responding under arguably the most simple and salient of terminal-link contexts reinforcement versus extinction - across seven participants. The second and third papers address the common behavioral issue of perseverative speech, which is pertinent to improving social interactions. DeLisle et al. used a multiple schedule to decrease perseverative speech while maintaining manageable levels of appropriate speech with two participants. Sauter et al. evaluated the influence of, and client preference for, attention alone or combined with contingent access to preferred topics following on-topic speech with three participants. Finally, the fourth paper addresses sportsmanship, a skill relevant to social interactions with peers. Pisman et al. evaluated the effects of behavioral skills training on sportsmanship skills across different tabletop games (e.g., Candyland) with three participants. We are fortunate to have Dr. Tara Fahmie serve as the discussant.

Researchers have argued the importance of incorporating the recipients of behavior-change procedures into the treatment selection process (e.g., Hanley, 2010). When an individual has limited language capabilities, concurrent-chain schedules offer a means of assessing preference among behavior interventions and teaching strategies (Hanley, 2010). Our initial purpose was to evaluate the preference for various contexts with children diagnosed with autism who were receiving early intervention services. However, the majority of participants engaged in patterned selections consisting of one selection of each initial link, similar to how exposure trials were arranged. Thus, using a discovery-oriented approach, we evaluated a method of disrupting patterned responding under arguably the most simple and salient of terminal link arrangements (i.e., one reinforcement context versus two extinction contexts). For five of seven participants who initially demonstrated patterned responding, manipulation of the number of exposures to the reinforcement context was sufficient to produce discriminated responding. For two participants, the academic task also needed to be removed. Once discriminated responding was observed under such manipulations, discriminated responding maintained when the initial exposure arrangement was reinstated. Results are discussed in terms of the potential effects of history of exposure to errorless teaching strategies on selections during concurrent-chain schedules.

Perseverative speech, the repetition of phrases or topics, can be problematic when the responses occur at such high frequency that they interfere with instruction or typical social interactions. Previous studies have shown that perseverative speech maintained by attention can be treated through the use of a simple differential reinforcement of alternative behavior procedure, in which perseverative speech is ignored and appropriate speech results in attention (Rehfeldt & Chambers, 2003); however, this type of intervention may also result in impractically high levels of appropriate speech. In the current study, a multiple schedule was introduced to decrease problem behavior and maintain low levels of appropriate speech. First, a functional analysis was conducted on the perseverative speech of 2 participants diagnosed with developmental disabilities; results showed that their perseverative speech was maintained by attention. Next, treatment consisted of alternating between reinforcement components, during which appropriate speech was reinforced and perseverative behavior was ignored, and extinction components, during which all behavior was ignored. Schedules were gradually altered to increase the length of the extinction component.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) may have difficulty maintaining conversation partners because of a tendency to dwell on certain topics in conversation. We evaluated the influence of, and client preference for, attention alone or combined with contingent access to preferred topics on the on-topic performance of three individuals with autism during 5-min conversations. Attention alone and combined with contingent access to preferred topics equally effective in improving participants on-topic conversation. However, participants preferred attention combined with contingent access to preferred topics. The results are discussed in the context of efficacious and socially valid interventions for improving on-topic conversation for people with autism.

Individuals diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) typically exhibit deficits in social interactions. One opportunity for these children to interact with typically developing peers includes tabletop games (e.g., Candyland), and reinforcing interactions during games may increase the future likelihood of these children playing together. We used a multiple baseline design across subjects, who were three children aged 6 to 8, to demonstrate the efficacy of behavioral skills training (BST), and we assessed stimulus generalization across games. BST consisted of trial-based teaching outside of the game context in which the skill was described and modeled and followed by the child practicing the skill. Next, within- or after-game feedback following an error was provided, which included conducting remedial teaching trials until the skill occurred. BST increased sportsmanship skills and decreased problem behavior for all three children, and after teaching was discontinued, maintenance of this performance was observed. Across one or two additional games, stimulus generalization of teaching on decreased levels of problem behavior, increased levels of appropriate behavior, or both was observed for each child. Future research should determine whether sportsmanship skills result in typically developing peers choosing to play more often with children with an ASD using a concurrent-chains schedule.

Traditional accounts of human language have focused on elementary and complex verbal operants discussed by Skinner as verbal behavior. Although this account has led to application in teaching fundamental language skills such as tacts and mands, the same empirical advances have not been shown for more sophisticated language skills that are pivotal in speaking with meaning and listening with understanding. Recently, a series of assessment and curricula have been developed in the Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Relational Training System (PEAK) that incorporate contemporary advances in a behavior analytic understanding of language and cognition that may have applications in teaching these more advanced language skills. The present set of studies will compare the PEAK assessment to existing behavior analytic verbal behavior assessments and demonstrate how, by incorporating advances in Stimulus Equivalence theory and Relational Frame Theory, practitioners can teach complex language skills across sensory modalities. In so doing, PEAK provides a comprehensive curriculum that may have application in use with a greater range of participants, populations, and target verbal behavior skills.

Sensations such as taste, smell, and texture are important features of the stimuli we encounter on a daily basis. Much attention in the literature on language instruction has been focused on the development of receptive and expressive responding to visual and auditory stimuli, however, few studies have sought to address deficits in responding to non-audio/visual sensations such as those found in gustatory, olfactory, and tactile stimuli. Furthermore, applied investigation of instructional methods designed to promote emergent relations between the various sensory features of stimuli and the arbitrary language functions we, as the verbal community, attribute to them has been lacking. The current presentation will review the applied literature on gustatory, olfactory, and tactile discriminations, and will provide discussion on the importance of promoting derived relational responding between various sensory features of stimuli and the arbitrary language functions used to refer to such features. Data will be presented on several applications of equivalence-based instruction, derived from the PEAK-Equivalence Module, which sought to teach language skills across several sensory modalities. Emphasis will be placed on the necessary procedures required to promote derived relations between sensory modalities and on program modification for when learners require extra support.

The present study evaluated the effectiveness of the implementation of multiple exemplar training using PEAK Relational Training System: Equivalence Module (PEAK-E), and its effects on teaching complex verbal relations in four children diagnosed with autism and displayed very low vocal language skills. A multiple probe design was implemented using programs from PEAK Relational Training System: Equivalence Module. Reflexivity, symmetry, and/or equivalence were trained while teaching Equivalence: Metonymical Tacts and Equivalence: Symbolism, separately. During training for Metonymical Tacts, children were taught through a series of training trials to match a sample related word to a picture, that was not previously directly trained. During training for Equivalence: Symbolism, children were taught to match a sample second written trait to a related picture item following training that previously did not directly train the relation. The results suggest that the participants were able to demonstrate mastery of all the trained and the corresponding untrained relations. The data extend previous research by demonstrating the effectiveness of stimulus equivalence in reducing the number of skills that need to be directly taught while still achieving skill mastery, as well as providing support for PEAK-E as an effective technology for promoting the emergence of equivalence class formation in clinical settings.

While the technology of derived relational responding (DRR) has existed within the behavior analytic toolbox for over 45 years, the translation of this technology to applied usage has yet to take hold in a meaningful manner. Though prior research suggests that the utilization of DRR methods to train skills to individuals both with and without disabilities represents an effective and efficient mode of teaching, practitioners continue to primarily utilize discrete trial training of each skill they wish to increase in their clients repertoires. The PEAK Relational Training System is an assessment and curriculum tool designed to incorporate both traditional applied behavior analytic techniques as well as contemporary techniques using DRR as part of its instructional curriculum. The current talk describes several outcome studies on the effectiveness of programs within the PEAK curriculum which were designed to utilize DRR to train novel skills to individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities. The results indicated that novel skills were acquired in each of the participants instructed with DRR techniques.

Typically, applied behavior analysis has focused on individuals with developmental disabilities, including autism spectrum disorders. Often behavior analysts shy away from addressing areas such as psychopathology, trauma, anxiety and emotional aspects (e.g. depression) of medical issues. These diagnoses and their symptoms involve private events and are therefore difficult to operationally define, observe and measure. However, Friman and others have suggested that behavior analysts should not ignore these important areas because they will then be studied only by non-behaviorists. Unfortunately, non-behaviorists view aberrant behaviors in individuals with psychiatric disorders as symptoms of underlying constructs and use the diagnosis as a reason for these behaviors, proposing more global treatments such as therapies or medications. On the other hand, behaviorists view those behaviors as serving an environmental function that can be replaced with a more acceptable behavior serving the same function. The behavioral perspective would also include an analysis/understanding of establishing operations in the form of private events, physical sensations, bio-behavioral states, psychological feelings, and covert tacts/mands and learning history with particular discriminative stimuli for reinforcement or punishment. The presenters in this symposium will present their analyses of these areas from a behavioral perspective and provide treatment strategies or research methodologies that are based on these analyses.

Coping with medical diagnoses such as diabetes and asthma is particularly difficult during adolescence. Living in a rural community that is lacking in resources can make these diagnoses even more difficult, leading to behaviors that present as anxiety, depression and helplessness. Understanding how these behaviors can serve as establishing operations and have functions in the form of direct escape or socially mediated access is helpful in developing interventions that promote more positive behaviors such as treatment adherence, seeking support, and coping effectively. The presenter works with adolescents who are being treated at a school-based health clinic which serves high school students in a rural, impoverished area, some of whom are in families of migrant workers. The presenter will describe how to conduct a functional assessment and analysis of motivating operations in the treatment of behaviors related to medical disorders, using case examples of two adolescents who have been diagnosed with diabetes and asthma.

We will present how operants are involved in interlocking behavioral contingencies using descriptive studies that include the concepts of metacontingency and macrocontingency. The phenomena under analysis are: (1) Disasters as ecosystems: cultural practices in prevention and intervention; (2) Two historical events that occurred in Brazil The Tapuios ethnogenesis and their contribution to indigenous policies, and barricades of health in Rio de Janeiro during the transition from the Imperial to the Republican system; and (4) The mobilization through social merchandising of a soap opera against the trafacking of persons. The contributions of metacontingency and macrocontingency are shown in these different contexts in which complexities are described and allow us to follow the evolution of recurrent social practices and their outcomes in social settings due to environmental selection. The areas considered in these presentations emphasize the need for exchange between behavior analysis and other disciplines such as politics, history and communication. Such interaction may result in an expansion of our understanding of the evolution of cultural practices and cultural planning.

The 1980s were followed by a high number of natural disasters and climate change has stimulated the states of the United Nations to organize a complex mobilization that seeks substantial reduction of disaster losses of life as well as communities and countries social, economic and environmental assets. The important implementation of Hyogo framework for action 2005-2015: left gaps that will be filled by the recent framework approved in the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction the Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction 2015-2030. Actions from different entities must consider the global development agenda a sustainable development of humanity and the planet. In disaster ecosystems, metacontingencies include the coordination of governments, experts, public and private sectors, and wide range relevant stakeholders at all levels, both externally and locally. Disaster risk reduction requires transparent risk informed decision-making that is easy to understand and science based. Measures and indicators clearly define aggregate products. The metacontingencies of disaster management have interlocked behavior contingencies (IBCs) that interact with global-regional and national-local disasters teams. Metacontingencies and macrocontingencies allow us to describe phenomena in a way that may contribute to the implementation of actions in different phases, from prevention to recovery after a disaster event.

Metacontingencies involve dependency relationships between interlocked behavioral contingencies (IBCs), their aggregated products and an external result. This presentation discusses the need to broaden the discussion about the relationship between control and counter control that is present in IBCs to understand some apparent paradoxical effects in cultural selection. Recurrences of IBCsinvolving counter control can be especially harmful in the cultural selection process. This presentation examines an episode in Brazilian history known as the "health barricades", a popular revolt against the governmental mandatory decision to vaccinate against smallpox. The episode took place in Rio de Janeiro in 1904. A vaccination program may be regarded as a metacontingency: it involves intertwining of many behavioral contingencies, an increase in population health and a number of cultural consequences as critical variables. In this episode, however, mandatory vaccination was treated as police case; whoever did not accept the vaccination was arrested. Health services, with help from the police and the army, went to peoples houses using force. The presence of aversive control in IBCs led to a revolt against governmental practice, a form of counter control. These considerations are important for the consolidation of successful strategies of adherence to large-scale application of behavioral technology.

Behavior Analysis has a fundamental role in cultural planning and, in the last few years, several behavior analysts have been studying cultural practices using the concept of metacontingencies. It is possible to use wide-reaching communication technology to change the behavior of a great number of people. Several current TV shows encourage citizenship and affect society in a favorable way. One of the strategies used by these shows is social merchandising, which involves inserting social themes and mobilization messages in the plot of a story. The goal of this paper was to analyze the presentation of cultural practices included in a social theme of great impact-- human trafficking-- in a Brazilian soap opera with a large audience. We identified contingency arrangements, cultural products and selecting consequences using the concept of metacotingencies. Further, we analyzed the recurrent presentation and impact of the intervention on the fight against human trafficking in Brazil.

The synthesis of evidence is central to the translation of scientific knowledge into practice. Most clinical sciences use meta-analysis methodology to aggregate the evidence from multiple individual studies. Meta-analyses are often used as the final scientific product preceding the transfer of evidence to health and education decision-makers and to the wider public. The use of meta-analysis in behavior analysis has been hampered by (a) the multiple metrics used across studies, (b) the limited use of randomized and non-randomized controlled studies, (c) the absence of purposely-developed effect size estimators for single-subject experimental designs, and (d) the lack of quantitative approaches to appropriately evaluate the idiosyncrasies of individual studies and individual participants within studies. Analytical developments over the last few years have helped to overcome some of these limitations. Some of these developments are illustrated in the current series of review studies. K. Hurl's meta-analysis compares the relative effectiveness of interventions for problem behavior that were and were not preceded by a functional assessment. R. Anderson's study features a quantitative synthesis of behavioral interventions for severe feeding disorders. J. McCormack will present a meta-analysis of the differential outcome effects in clinical and non-clinical population. Finally, A. Arnold-Saritepe will present a review of evidence-based practices for severe behavior in individuals with developmental disabilities and autism.

There is a growing interest in treatments to transition children from tube feeding (e.g., nasogastric or gastrostomy tubes) to oral feeding. A number of literature reviews identify applied behaviour analysis as having the strongest evidence for the treatment of pediatric feeding disorders. However, few studies have reviewed the nutritional outcomes for tube fed children. These outcomes include primarily the reduction or elimination of tube feeds and weight gain. In addition, the individual studies available do not allow a cogent comparison of behaviour-analytic intervention with other multidisciplinary treatment studies, such as tube weaning or hunger provocation programs. In the current investigation we conducted a meta-analysis of treatments for children dependent on tube feeding, combining datasets of different metrics (e.g., single-case and group designs). This presentation will cover our meta-analysis methods, results, and implications for future research and clinical practice.

Severe behavior presents a significant challenge for both the individual and caregiver in terms of quality of life. Challenging behavior is commonly reported in individuals with intellectual disabilities, 10-15 %, however for those with autism and / or profound intellectual disabilities the prevalence is much higher, 39-65%. At least 10% of individuals in the latter category have challenging behavior that would be considered to be severe. Adolescent and young adult males make up two-thirds of this group. While the progression of severe behavior disorders has not been well documented, it would appear that the overall prognosis for this group of individuals is not good, with potentially 80% continuing to engage in these behaviors 20 years later. Many of the studies published contain complex multi-component interventions that do not always report long term follow up or generalization data. This paper aims to review the behavioral literature for the intervention of the most severe challenging behavior (e.g., aggression, property destruction and self-injurious behavior) using Reichow, Volkmar and Cicchetti?s (2008) method for evaluating and determining evidence-based practice. It is hoped that this review will support researchers and clinicians in developing effective long lasting interventions that allow those with severe behaviors to live a less restricted life in the community.

In this multi-domain symposium, the intersection of the use of computers and contingencies to address complex human behavior is addressed in various ways by each presentation. All of the talks focus on the assessment of either the tasks involved, the behavior emitted by humans, or both. The assessment of tasks is required for a clear task analysis of what is required in the various domains in which behavior change is desired. The assessment of behavior in terms of how well it matches, under-matches, or over-matches the tasks is an important part of the assessment involved in shaping behavior. In this symposium, high inter-observer reliability scores are reported by several presentations, along with effective strategies to change socially important behavior as a result of contingencies that are applied to human behavior. The use of these reliable and valid methods of assessment is important for the field of behavior analysis and beyond.

Decades of research suggest that degree of delay discounting differs in clinically relevant populations relative to control populations. For example, individuals who smoke cigarettes, use illicit drugs, are obese, or fail to take preventative health measures tend to discount delayed rewards more relative to comparison groups. Recent evidence suggests that degree of discounting, previously been compared to a stable trait, is sensitive to experimental manipulation. This symposium presents data in which experimental manipulation affected delay discounting. Meredith Berry will present data suggesting visual exposure to natural environments decreases discounting, and that this effect may be related to lengthened time perception. Renee Renda will present data with rat subjects suggesting lasting reductions in discounting can be produced by delay exposure. Sarah Snider will present data in which episodic future thinking decreased discounting and intensity of demand for alcohol in alcohol dependent individuals. Matthew Johnson will present data suggesting acute doses of cocaine and alcohol increase discounting of condom-protected sex, but do not affect discounting of money. Leonard Green will integrate these presentations as discussant. Data in this symposium suggest degree of discounting has both trait and state characteristics. This knowledge is important for the development of interventions for impulsive decision making.

Previous research in the treatment of severe behavior problems has found the appearance of extinction bursts following the suspension of reinforcer delivery is less than common, and similar findings have been found in basic human operant research. In contrast, extinction bursts have been reported widely in animal research following suspension of reinforcer delivery, leading some to suggest a difference between humans and non-humans. We propose that extinction bursts, in fact, have not received a thorough functional analysis, and it may be premature to conclude lack of consistent findings with humans are due to species differences. The present study was designed to clarify the role response topography and stimulus modality may play in promoting extinction bursts. Twenty-five human participants watched a preferred video. Across groups, the audio or video stream was removed from playback, leaving the other stream intact. Participants could restore the video/audio stream by pressing a force-sensitive button, where either low (250 g) or high (750 g) forces were required to restore playback. At 20 and 30 minutes into the session, video/audio streams were removed, but participants could not restore playback for 20 s. The results showed that extinction bursting was more likely when baseline forces were lower and when audio streams were removed compared to the removal of video. The findings suggest that the wide variability in the observation of extinction bursts may be due to incidental differences in response topographies. Specifically, high-force topographies appear less likely to result in “bursting” during extinction. Also, reinforcer modality is shown to alter the likelihood and extent of extinction bursts.

Previous basic studies have demonstrated how different schedules of reinforcement affect the rate and force of responses (Notterman & Mintz 1965). The results of basic studies on force are relevant for applied studies on the assessment and treatment of severe problem behavior. The present study evaluated the force and rate of button pressing during continuous and intermittent reinforcement and extinction. We conducted two experiments with three children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. In Experiment 1, two conditions were compared using a reversal design (i.e., intermittent reinforcement and extinction). In Experiment 2, three conditions were compared in a sequence using a reversal design (i.e., intermittent reinforcement, continuous reinforcement, and extinction). In summary, the results across both experiments demonstrated how changes in the schedule of reinforcement affected the rate and force of responses. The results will be discussed in terms of future applied research on the force of problem behavior during assessment and function-based intervention.

Functional Analysis (FA) methodology has become the hallmark of behavioral assessment and plenty of studies have been conducted to refine its procedures (Hanley, Iwata, & McCord, 2003). However, there is almost no research about changes in the variation of target responses as the assessment progresses. The purpose of the current study was to describe changes in the number and rate of aggression topographies observed during demand sessions of FA for four participants whose problem behavior maintained by escape. The results showed that for all participants the number of topographies decreased from the first to the last session. Also, the rate of responding for one particular topography either increased or remained at high levels after the first session while the remaining topographies of response decreased in rate. The implications of the decrease in variability in topographies of response when conducting FAs for problem behavior will be discussed as well as how this relates to research on modification of response classes.

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is a classwide group contingency that has been shown to reduce disruptive student behavior. Previous research has shown that teachers can successfully implement the GBG in their classrooms. Although students have successfully implemented other classroom-based behavioral interventions (e.g., peer tutoring, self-management), previous research has not examined student implementation of the GBG. The current study examined the effectiveness of the GBG in 1 first-grade and 3 kindergarten classes when implemented by an experimenter, the classroom teacher, and a student. In the 3 kindergarten classes, we also examined teacher preference for teacher-led GBG, student-led GBG, or no GBG using a concurrent chains procedure. In all classes, the GBG effectively reduced disruptive behavior regardless of who implemented the GBG. We did not observe differences in the level of disruptive behavior across experimenter-, teacher-, and student-led GBG conditions. Preference for who implements the game varied across teachers. One teacher preferred student-led GBG, one teacher preferred teacher-led GBG, and one teacher did not show a consistent preference. Results of this study suggest that students as young as kindergarten-age can effectively implement the GBG and that teacher preferences should be taken into account when determining how classwide interventions are implemented.

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is a well-documented classroom management procedure that is effective in reducing disruptive classroom behavior. Although it has been demonstrated to be extremely effective, some teachers and educators have reported that the game can be too disruptive and effortful to implement consistently in their classroom. In this study, a multiple baseline across classrooms design was used to evaluate a modified, low-effort variation of the GBG at an alternative school for children who engage in delinquent behavior. In this procedure, the experimenter explained simple rules to the class (i.e., you have to raise your hand and receive permission to talk or leave your seat) and informed them that he would be in the back of the classroom marking when rules were broken. Students were told that if they got fewer than a certain number of marks, they would win the game and receive an edible reinforcer. The experimenter then sat in the back of the class and monitored behavior intermittently. Every 5 minutes, student behavior was recorded for 30 seconds. Whenever a student broke a rule during the 30 second window, a mark was placed by their name in a book. Unlike the typical GBG, students were not informed when they broke a rule or what the mark limit was. Sessions lasted approximately 25 minutes with a total monitoring time of approximately 2 minutes per session. Substantial reductions in disruptive behavior were seen in all classrooms. Implications and future directions will be discussed.

The four presentations in this symposium illustrate how evidence-based practices in instructional design and Precision Teaching can be combined in new ways to teach core instructional objectives to typical learners of all ages, including elementary, middle school, high school, and college students. In the first presentation, Shiloh Isbell will describe her design of a web-based application to teach, reinforce, and build the fluency of organizational skills that are critical helping adolescents who are struggling in school. In the second presentation, Traci Cihon will describe the Teaching Science Lab (TSL), a teaching and research laboratory for designing and improving college teaching procedures at the University of North Texas (UNT). A core feature of the TSL process is using student data to inform subsequent revisions. In the third presentation, Andrew Kieta will describe the current procedures developed by the TSL for teaching a Behavior Principles course at UNT, including brief lectures with Active Student Responding (ASL), Thinking Aloud Problem Solving (TAPS), Precision Teaching, and an application of Goldiamonds Constructional Approach. In the fourth presentation, Sheila Habarad will describe the 3-Part Warm-Up, a synthesis of Direct Instruction and Precision Teaching to review and make fluent key prerequisite skills in learning elementary school mathematics.

The standards-based education movement in the United States largely determines what will and will not be taught in our public schools. One area the Common Core State Standards do not address is the development of organizational skills, including how to study, take notes, manage time, schedule ahead, break assignments into parts, and keep materials organized. These are fundamental skills without which students cannot be successful, but which are assumed to be learned via osmosis. This presentation chronicles one year of development and implementation of a web-based application designed to teach and reinforce crucial organizational skills in adolescent and young adult students who are struggling in school. Aspects addressed include the rationale, collaborating with others outside the field of behavior analysis and education, the design process, problems with implementation and the debugging process, user feedback, scalability, and future goals. Eight months of learner data will be analyzed within a behavior analytic framework.

Institutions of Higher Education have been increasingly encouraged to employ evidence-based practices in the classroom. However, many faculty members continue to rely on more traditional instructional methods, and even faculty members who are well versed in evidence-based teaching techniques often fall back on these traditional instructional methods. We will describe the Teaching Science Lab (TSL); a faculty-advised, course-based teaching and research laboratory consisting of undergraduate and graduate students in behavior analysis who study the application of behavior analytic approaches to college teaching, conducting research, and enhancing undergraduate and graduate student learning outcomes. The TSL is an example of how faculty members can integrate both teaching and research responsibilities while incorporating several behavioral technologies into undergraduate course design. This presentation will highlight the history, organization, current status, and future directions of the TSL with respect to the use of evidence-based practice in the college classroom, a pyramidal approach to staff training, and the current and future research agenda

Morningside introduced a new teaching procedure in the math block. This procedure is the 3-Part Warm-Up that begins prior to instruction. The series of warm-up requires the students to use a variety of channels to reinforce their learning Common Core math skills and concepts that are regularly encountered in their text books, curriculum based assessments, and state tests. The highly interactive warm-up utilizes multiple channels; see-say during board work, see/think-write/say while identifying non-examples from examples, and hear-write providing further practice with the same skill. The 3-Part Warm-up emphasizes the development of math language skills that are largely assumed or not taught. The procedure teaches critical discrimination skills that are often overlooked during instruction. We will further discuss how this warm-up has been introduced across a variety of classrooms, including both larger general education and special education. Video clips of classrooms in Ohio, Hawaii, North Carolina, and Morningside will be used.

Antecedent control strategies are often neglected when behavior analysts select interventions. Consequences are certainly more powerful and cause behavior change. Yet, antecedent strategies set the stage for maximizing the effectiveness of those consequences by altering the reinforcing value of the consequences. Three strategies in particular (choice, preference, and indiscriminable contingencies) invoke motivating operations that are easily incorporated into intervention packages. Providing students a choice of task, sequence, or reinforcement serves as a motivating operation by altering existing reinforcement schedules, introducing variety across sessions, and accounting for momentary fluctuations in motivational levels. Indiscriminable contingencies, often presented as Mystery Motivators, create a schedule of reinforcement which explicitly signals reinforcement availability while masking the reinforcer or criterion for reinforcement. Reinforcer preference allows access to higher-preference consequences, which, when stated prior to task completion, can establish reinforcement as being more effective It is unfortunate that these motivating operation strategies have received little attention in the academic intervention literature, as they can boost intervention effects without adding much complexity to a treatment package. This presentation will review the literature and instruct participants in how to add elements of choice, indiscriminable contingencies, and preference to academic intervention packages.

The efficacious impact of behavioral approaches to reduce injury in industrial settings has been well documented. In light of this success, industry leaders have called on the behavioral science community to provide the same rigor and expertise to understanding and impacting behaviors related to catastrophic incidents that kill, maim, and effect communities; an area called Process Safety (Bogart, Ludwig, Staats, & Kretshmer, 2015). Specifically behavior analytic community has been challenged to a) research the behavioral root causes leading to variation threatening process safety, b) create and evaluate behavioral interventions to mitigate this variation, and c) identify the system factors that would influence the behaviors necessary to promote process safety. This symposium presents four papers responding to this call. These papers consider behavior analytic principles within the Process Safety domain while offering both direction for behavioral research on the emerging topics and offering various programmatic interventions targeting the reduction of Process Safety incidents in heavy industries.

This paper seeks to take a first step to identify the behavioral components active in process safety toward the ultimate goal of providing a scientific framework to generate applied efforts to build interventions and systems that contribute to process safety. Toward this effort we will first attempt to outline the different classes of behavior that contribute to process safety. We then will offer a behavioral definition of complacency by describing it as an operant problem akin to avoidance behavior. Behavioral variance related to complacency will then be discussed in the context of behavioral operations such as acquisition, training, rule governance and extinction. We will conclude with potential approaches to reduce complacency in process safety that consider pinpointing, competing contingencies, verbal behavior, and shaping situational awareness.

Behavior is involved in all aspects of work, from customer service, operating equipment, to leading the board of director. In the realm of safety, the importance of understanding human factors can aid in reducing and ultimately avoiding accidents and personal injury. According to the Health and Safety Executive of the United Kingdom, Human factors refers to environmental, organizational, and human factors which influence behavior at work in a way which can affect health and safety." In other words, human factors is concerned with what people are being asked to do (behavior), who is doing it (the individual and their role) and where they are working (the environmental conditions and under what organizational direction). This sounds like a job for OBM right? This presentation will provide a brief overview of human factors, the various topics that provide insight into the management of human factors in the area of process safety and conceptual and applied work integrating Organizational Behavior Management along the various topics.

Process Safety is a blend of engineering and management skills focused on preventing catastrophic accidents, particularly explosions, fires, and toxic releases, associated with the use of chemicals and petroleum products. Incidents are typically the result of multiple failures (e.g., single-point equipment failures, management inadequacies, knowledge deficiencies) and while process and technology contributes to failures, the biggest single root cause for failures is the human element. That is, behavior at the front and mid-lines, executive behaviors and decisions. At CLG weve done field research on the contributions of leadership behaviors to front-line safety performance and can demonstrate just how much leadership behavior matters. We havent teased apart the personal from process safety components, but we will make the argument that safety, both personal and process, to be most effectively managed as part of the safe reliable operations triptych. Furthermore, to pull safety out as a separate entity from operations fabricates a forced choice, often not consciously, by front line employees resulting in employees prioritizing behaviors that will maximize productivity while neglecting or inhibiting safety related performance. To support this position, we will present work from oil sands front-line supervisors through CLGs proprietary DCOM framework.

Behavior Based Safety (BBS) applies various types of safety observation to improve occupational safety in business. The purpose of the following study is to examine and compare different observation foci: peer observation, self-monitoring and a combination of both options as well as supervisor information. In addition, data were collected by experimental observers to shed light on behavior change processes in applied settings. Participants were unionized employees of the facilities management department at a Midwestern University. Target behaviors included safe lifting and vacuuming. The dependent variables were incident numbers and safety performance percentages based on participant observations and objective observations. Discrepancies in reporting and relationships between the variables were investigated as well. The different observational methods were investigated via a multiple baseline design across groups. The results show that (a) regardless of checklist type the first condition after baseline and supervisor intervention were most effective at increasing safe behavior. (b) That participants over report their own safety performance in comparison to objective observations. (c) That the BBS process yielded incident decreases and modest safety improvements of 9%. Implications of these findings on importance of accuracy, training and culture

One of the most important goals set to implement Mexican Education Reform has been the teachers formation program. During the application of this program a lack of proficiency in the evaluation process was detected, specifically, in the use and elaboration of assessment instruments. This work presents a program developed to generate evaluation competencies in high school teachers in Veracruz State, Mxico. Each of the four stages of the program are evaluated via self and peers assessment with the porpoise that the instructor not only assesses the student's (teachers) performance, but also provides feedback or guidance to the teacher enabling them to improve their performance. It is also intendeted that the instructor's behavior is taken as a model in the formative assessment process in which they are being instructed. Since this is an ongoing program, some preliminary results showed that teachers are using what they have accomplished in the program based on their own assessments, to improve their performances in the evaluation process of their students.I

In the year 2014, the BACB introduced the registered behavior technician training program with the aim of reaching out to a larger community of consumers with quality services. This training program is based on the registered behavior technician task list designed to meet the 40 hours training requirement for the RBT credentialing. The program is offered independent of BACB. The task list revolves around measurement, assessment, skill acquisition, behavior reduction, documentation and reporting, professional conduction, and scope of practice as a global guide for the training of RBT. Since its inception, a reasonable number of practitioners have been trained worldwide and RBT program has attracted a lot of demand globally with the resultant changes in the policy by BACB. One such policy change includes the proposal for taking international examination by the trainee after 40 hours mandatory training and competency assessment as well as mandatory supervision hours to assure continued competency. Experience with the training of about 200 RBT in Africa has shown that in order to sustain the quality of services sort after by BACB, the trainees will require the knowledge of the development, choice, maintenance, and application of culturally friendly intervention tools as applicable in a particular geographical location. The need to train the RBT on culturally sensitive instructional materials is imperative.

Although the benefits of Human-Animal Interaction (HAI) for both animals and humans are often reported in the media, systematic and experimental research is largely lacking in this field. Furthermore, behavioral research is even rarer. In a sequence of talks, we will explore the variables that improve the relationship between cats, dogs, and humans. Then, we will report on research in the use of Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAI) for special human populations. The first talk will assess the utility of therapy dogs as reinforcers in educational settings with children. The second talk will examine how human interaction and reinforcement histories of domesticated cats can alter cat sociability. Finally, the third talk will determine the utility of service dogs to reduce work stress in military veterans. This symposium highlights research that strives to bring together behavioral methodologies and HAI and AAI fields.

The aim of the project was to determine the benefit of access to a therapy dog as a reinforcer for educational task completion in children and to develop a screening assessment to predict this benefit. In Experiment 1, we conducted a preference assessment, in which various leisure items as well as a therapy dog were included in the stimulus array. In Experiment 2, in a single-subject multi-element design, we then determined the efficacy of a therapy dog in improving task-related behavior as well as mitigate associated stress. In Experiment 2, each child was randomly assigned to a sequence of conditions: contingent access to a therapy dog, non-contingent access to a therapy dog, contingent access to other preferred leisure activities, and contingent praise. The motivation to engage in the educational activity as well as behavioral and physiological markers of stress were assessed in all conditions.

Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder face barriers that can prevent them from successfully reintegrating into society and returning to work. Service dogs are increasingly used as an intervention to help ameliorate symptoms of psychiatric disorders, but there is a dearth of empirical evidence on their effectiveness. Nine male veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder who have service dogs were recruited to participate in a laboratory study. The magnitude and time course of their stress and startle responses before, during, and after a task designed to simulate different kinds of work-related stress were assessed. Stress and startle responses were measured using physiological, psychological, and behavioral metrics during baseline, task, and recovery periods. Across conditions, the veteran was alone, with his dog, or with an unfamiliar, friendly dog. The effects of the presence or absence of each dog was compared to the alone condition. Preliminary results suggest that familiar dogs produce greater reductions in stress responses when compared to unfamiliar dogs. These results contribute to our understanding of the therapeutic effects of emotional support and psychiatric service dogs.

Outcomes of interventions for individuals on the autism spectrum are primarily measured in terms of performance outcomes involving behaviors that are observed as external events by others. Internal events happening inside the head such as neurophysiological responses are seldom observed; what happens inside the brain has been erroneously believed to be "private events". This paper proposes that it is not only possible to observe such "private events", these events follows predictable physical laws much like the way behaviors obey natural laws. Neurophysiological events in the brain are concrete occurrences that not only immediately follows a stimuli but is the driver of observable behaviors. Just like a lack of a microscope does not qualify for the non-existence of micro-organism, a lack of recording equipment does not mean that what happens in the brain is explanatory fiction. In the new millennium, the onslaught of neuroscience has found its way into the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA). Using applied neuroscience methods, it is possible to record events that happens in the brain upon the delivery of a stimulus discrimination. Whereas the trajectory of a behavior can be traced to a series of cause and effect, the path of neurophysiological events accompanies the path of behavior the way the shadow follows the person. The invention of the telescope has opened up a new way of viewing the cosmos. By projection, it is expected that the interdisciplinary collaboration between neuroscience and service intervention in ABA can form new questions. This paper follows the intervention outcome of a research study conducted in the laboratory of Dr Oliver Wendt. He teaches communication to children on the severe end of the autism spectrum who are non-verbal or do not utter spoken words. During the study, the research subjects are taught to communicate via an in-house augmentative communication device, Speakall. As the intervention progresses, participants becomes proficient in using the device and are able to mand, tact, do intraverbal, carry out rudimentary conversations through dragging icons across a strip that emulate the PECS system. Some participants become able to "speak" or utter certain recognizable words. During this intervention, subjects were brain-mapped and their internal events are compared with their acquisition of language and communication. The results shows brain re-wiring in specific language circuits.

Many children with autism spectrum disorder who receive public education divide their school days between self-contained classrooms for academic and functional instruction and the general education classroom for social exposure and peer interaction. However, there is little research that provides information on how much language and social communication actually happens in the respective settings. This study tracked the vocal verbal behaviors of six Kindergarten to third grade children with moderate to severe autism spectrum disorder across the entire school day using a Language Environment Analysis Digital Language Processor. The Digital Language Processor data automatically recorded and disaggregated data on child vocal counts, adult vocal counts, and vocal interactions for 19 observation days distributed across the 2014-15 school year. Preliminary results indicate participants engaged in different levels of vocalizations between self-contained and general education environments with greater rates of vocalization in the self-contained classrooms when other instructional variables were held constant. The interaction and adult word counts during those periods were similar. The data suggests more consideration is needed to provide an environment that ensures optimal rates of verbal behavior for children with autism spectrum disorder. Results associated with other environments and instructional activities will also be presented.

Research on a model Therapeutic Workplace has allowed for the rigorous evaluation of the use of employment in the treatment of drug addiction. Under the Therapeutic Workplace, adults with histories of drug addiction are hired and paid to work. To promote drug abstinence or adherence to addiction medications, participants are required to provide drug-free urine samples or take prescribed addiction medications, respectively, to gain access to the workplace and/or to maintain their maximum rate of pay. Research has shown that this intervention is effective in promoting and maintaining abstinence from heroin, cocaine and alcohol and in promoting adherence to naltrexone in heroin-dependent adults. This presentation will review research on the Therapeutic Workplace and summarize major lessons that have been learned in conducting this research. In addition, the presentation will describe three models that could be used to maintain employment-based reinforcement in the treatment of drug addiction: A Social Business model, a Cooperative Employer model, and a Wage Supplement model. Overall, this program of research suggests that employment could be useful as a means of arranging and maintaining therapeutic reinforcement contingencies in the treatment of drug addiction.

Behavior analysts interested in the application of operant conditioning to the long-term treatment of drug addiction.

The current symposium will discuss recent advances, and identify future directions with regard to the understanding and treatment of automatically reinforced SIB. The first presentation will summarize existing literature on automatically reinforced SIB, and describe a recently proposed model for subtyping this heterogeneous category. The second presentation will describe the results of a replication study applying the same subtyping criteria to published datasets of cases with automatically reinforced SIB, and discuss possible avenues for future research. The Discussant will comment on these findings as well as implications for clinical practice and research.

The current study identified all cases of automatically reinforced SIB reported in the published literature since 1982. We identified 51 published datasets of automatically reinforced SIB that included sufficient data to enable us to apply the subtyping model described by Hagopian, Rooker, and Zarcone (2015). Findings from original study were largely replicated with published datasets. As reported in the original study, differentiation in the functional analysis was highly correlated with response to first line treatment (r = .71). Implications of these findings will be discussed.

The speakers in this symposium have taken translational approaches to answering applied questions regarding reinforcement and related phenomena. Although the populations or target behavior topographies addressed may not include immediate clinical targets in all three papers, all of the topics examined have important clinical applications. The following papers will be presented: Effects of Schedules of Reinforcement on Spontaneous Recovery, Sensitivity to Parameters of Positive Versus Negative Reinforcement, and Further Comparisons of Pairing Procedures Used to Condition Praise as a Reinforcer.

From 1982 to 2015, many concepts have been added to Stimulus Equivalence paradigm and they do not explain how a person can acquire so many words into his /her repertory. This paper presents a short review of such concepts, from Sidman & Tailby's sets that produced unexplained untrained relations among arbitrary elements emerging new equivalent classes, to the change of the paradigm with Fields, Verhave and Fath introducing the nodal distance and naming as node a bi-linked stimulus through training, and the MTS (Matching-To-Sample) graph operator of Oliveira. A net of nodes linked by trained relations may show special properties, such as weight, distance, density, among others. The papers on Stimulus Equivalence propose mostly the study on the limits of the network growth (changing number of nodes, changing the number of elements in each set, strength of the link on trained and untrained relations, etc.) and the hybrid experiments composing more than one of those characteristics. A discussion on the limits based on the strategies of teaching such as SaN and CaN, linear chains or mixed structures is also provided. This theoretical study concludes that composing and multiplication of such nets is still lacking of study.

Children with autism often become obsessed with just one or small set of items, which can relate to higher levels of challenging behaviors (Mancil, 2009). Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of pairing procedures between preferred items and novelty items and the effects on subsequent item engagement and challenging behaviors during operant play conditions. A multi-element design was used to compare engagement time and challenging behaviors between highly preferred items and novelty items. Data was collected via iPad during 5-minute sessions. Prior to pairing procedures, preference assessments were conducted keeping response effort levels equal across items to identify the highly preferred items. In addition, novelty items were identified for each participant and tested to ensure a zero level of engagement prior to pairing. Novelty items were paired with highly preferred items for each participant. Pairing procedures consisted of requiring the participant to engage with the novelty item with the highly preferred item simultaneously. Results indicate that participants engaged in play with novelty items for significantly higher periods of time and challenging behaviors decreased following pairing procedures with highly preferred items. This study potentially impacts planning for individuals with limited preferences and obsessive interests.

Behavior based safety (BBS) focuses on reducing the number of injuries and illnesses in the workplace. Although the application of BBS techniques is commonly reported in the fields of aviation, transportation, and factories, the application of BBS techniques in behavioral agencies is limited. In the present investigation, a treatment package was implemented to decrease the number of staff and client injuries during 1:1 behavior intervention session in the school and home setting. There were 100 participants in the current study consisting of BCBA supervisors, mid-level supervisors, and behavior interventionists. The treatment package consisted of: didactic teaching, role play, modeling, and feedback on the policies and procedures to prevent injuries, systems of reporting incidents, and manipulating the environment to decrease future incidents to staff members throughout their tenure at their behavioral agency. Data were collected on the number of staff incidents before and after the implementation of the treatment package, as well as, the number of client injuries reported to the funding sources.

Programming for effective behavior-analytic instruction requires practitioners to review research to make evidence-based decisions regarding implementation. This symposium will address three aspects of behavior-analytic instruction: selecting proper correction procedures, the effectiveness of varied reinforcer pools and programming for generalization of instructional materials. There is conflicting research guiding practitioners about choosing an effective error-correction procedure when instructing children with autism. This symposium will present research and provide a discussion of the possible reinforcing effects of different correction procedures to help further the research in this area. Assessing the effects of replenished versus unreplenished reinforcer pools has implications for applied settings with limited resources when working with adolescents with autism. Results showed that novel stimuli were preferred over stimuli available in the participants environment. These results have implications about how to allocate resources when considering purchasing new stimuli as potential reinforcers. The third symposium outlines clear recommendations for specific ways to promote generalization in taught skills and will evaluate the success of programming common stimuli to achieve generalization of social skills taught in a behavior-analytic clinic when working with children with autism. Data indicate that bringing stimuli into the teaching environment may not be sufficiently effective to generalize to a new environment.

It is well documented that children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) benefit from early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI). The majority of programs for toddlers with ASD have been conducted in children's homes. Although there are some benefits to working in homes, there are a number of drawbacks such as isolation, cost, and lack of appropriate social and communicative models. The purpose of this presentation is describe the current state of knowledge about early intervention for children with ASD, including the results of two recently completed randomized clinical trials on school-based services. Implications of these results will be discussed as they apply to the basic dimensions of applied behavior analysis.

Students, family members, researchers, school administrators, private practitioners providing EIBI to children with ASD.

The debate between basic and applied researchers has existed since the inception of our field. There are many valid arguments that address the strengths of both basic and applied research. However, debate does not yield outcomes other than the products of the discussions themselves. The panelists are doctoral students in the Applied Behavior Analysis Online Department of The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. They will present a brief review of translational research conducted across four different topic areas that have solved important problems. Their presentations will be followed by open discussion, which will be moderated by a discussant. As the field of behavior analysis continues to grow, so will the number of problems we need to solve. Collaboration among basic and applied researchers as well as interdisciplinary research can provide an avenue for a wider array of solutions in an increasingly complex world. This panel presentation hopes to motivate the development of additional translational research in behavior analysis.

Difficulties in recognizing and remembering the names of individuals are a common behavioral symptom of major neurocognitive disorder. A number of behavioral strategies have been proposed to improve memory deficits, including spaced retrieval, an intervention that emphasizes delayed recall of target information. Unfortunately, many of the studies that report beneficial effects of spaced retrieval use a very limited range of outcome measures, thus calling into question the magnitude and generality of any reported memory improvement. This study reports on the impact of spaced retrieval using four older adults with cognitive impairment living in an assisted living facility. All participants demonstrated difficulty naming and recalling names of staff members at the facility who provided care. A multiple baseline across participants design with embedded probes was used to evaluate the effects of spaced retrieval on the acquisition, delayed recall, and generalization of naming a target staff member. Probe measures included a non-identity matching-to-sample task, naming in the presence of untrained photographs of the target staff member, and naming during brief video presentations of the target staff member. Non-example presentations were also interspersed. Spaced retrieval resulted in within-session increases in delayed recall for all participants, and also resulted in minimal evidence of generalization across probe measures, including live-person probes. Modified spaced retrieval interventions were then employed to address stimulus control deficits. These modified conditions resulted in further gains in delayed recall performance, as well as improved generalization across probes. These results are discussed in the context of previous research with spaced retrieval. Future directions are also discussed.

Coaches make a variety of complex decisions in American-rules college footballespecially related to point-after-touchdown (PAT) conversions and, historically, kicker-style selection. However, little research has characterized the pattern of these choices and whether they are sensitive to environmental manipulations, such as an increase in effort required to score. In the present study, the generalized matching law (GML)a model that predicts a linear relation between choices for two alternatives and the amount of reinforcement garnered from themwas applied to PAT conversions (1 point vs. 2 point) and kicker (soccer-style vs. conventional-style) selection using archived data from the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Overall, both PAT-conversion and kicker selection exhibited matching. Further, narrowing the goal-post width was associated with decreased preference for 1-point PAT attempts and enhanced sensitivity to increases in points scored from 1-point PAT attempts. This investigation provides support for the ecological validity of the GML.

Both human and nonhuman species are found to overexploit resources. This problem has been studied with either public goods games or diminishing returns paradigms. The first studies decision-making under different social environments, and the second studies effects of resource depletion. We combined these two paradigms within an animal model by using a diminishing returns procedure under competitive and noncompetitive social environments. Five pairs of female Sprague Dawley rats were run in adjacent operant chambers separated by a transparent barrier. Each chamber had two levers associated with either a fixed ratio schedule (FR) delivering one food-pellet reinforcer, or a geometric progressive ratio schedule (PR) delivering four reinforcers. Switching from PR to FR reset the PR to its lowest value. Subjects responded independently of each other in a baseline condition, and interactively in a social condition. Subjects generally switched at lower PR values in the social condition, but maintained stable reinforcement rates across both conditions. Of note was the emergence of free-riding behavior in the social condition, where one rat increased the PR value and relied on the partner to renew the resource, resulting in higher reinforcement rates for the free-rider. This behavior, representing resource exploitation, is common in the human situation.

This study investigated the role of contingency between interlocking behavioral contingencies (IBCs) and cultural events (CEs). Three experiments were performed. The task consisted in using the mouse to click on an image presented on the computer screen. In the experiments 1 and 2, individual consequences were programmed for the clicking, cultural consequences were programed for an specific pattern of clicking. In experiment 3, only cultural consequences were programmed. Experiment 1 compared conditions in which CE was presented in a variable interval schedule (VI) against conditions in which it was presented in variable time schedules (VT). Experiment 2 compared VI conditions against VT and extinction (EXT) conditions. Experiment 3 replicated Experiment 2, without individual consequences programmed. The results of these experiments indicate variations of IBCs as a function of the schedules of CE presentations. Extinction effects were observed in EXT conditions and also in VT conditions. In addition, the results of Experiment 3 indicate that a programmed individual contingency is not necessary for the establishment of a metacontingency.

In social foraging, groups of subjects are simultaneously exposed to searching, obtaining and consumption food setting. When several pieces of food are available in a patch, some members of group arrive to gain access and aggressive responses can be observed (Kaspersson, H?jesj? & Pedersen, 2010). This experiment evaluated the relationship between aggressive and consumption responses in groups of pigeons exposed to limited resource whose location was varied. Two groups of pigeons (n=5) were exposed during five sessions to a platform with 12 sealed deposits, only four deposits contained seeds. The piercing seal response delivered seeds and subjects could intake it. For G1, the deposits with food (useful) were located contiguous; for G2 the useful deposits were distant. Each session was composed by two trials; the location of useful deposits was varied in each trial. The sessions were video-recorded, a posteriori were recorded frequency of visits to useful deposits and frequency of aggressive responses (smack, peck about) to each subject. Both groups show that subjects recording higher consumption emit medium aggressive responses; subjects with medium consumption emitted aggressive response al higher level; subjects with lower consumption emitted aggressive responses at low level. Thus, the aggressive responses are related to consumption pattern.

Three pigeons were studied in a token-based accumulation paradigm. Tokens were presented response-independently about every 15 s, according to a variable time (VT) 15 schedule. A fixed ratio (FR) on an exchange-production key stopped the tokens from accumulating and started an exchange phase (signaled by flashing tokens). When pecked during the exchange period, each token produced 3-s access to food. After exchange of tokens, a variable-duration intertrial interval (ITI) occurred. This variable ITI ensured that each trial onset occurred 9 min apart, holding rate of trials constant at 10 per 90-min session. The main independent variable was fixed-ratio (FR) size on the exchange-production key, which varied from 25 to 75 across blocks of sessions. As shown in Figure 1, mean tokens accumulated per trial increased as a direct function of exchange-production FR for all 3 pigeons. These findings are consistent with previous research on the role of FR requirement in a related accumulation/self-control task, and provide a solid baseline against which to assess the role of concurrent behavior in a subsequent phase of the experiment.

During behavioral interventions, practitioners commonly use a variety of reinforces to maintain target behaviors rather than using a single constant reinforcer. However, in basic and applied research, comparing the effects of varied and constant reinforcers has produced mixed results. A probable explanation for such differences is that varied reinforcement is more effective than constant reinforcement only when the delivery of one type of reinforcer increases the reinforcing properties of another; a finding known as complementarity in behavioral economics. In contrast, when one reinforcer reduces the reinforcing properties of another, or functions as substitute, varied reinforcement is no different from constant reinforcement. This hypothesis was tested by comparing the effects of varied and constant reinforcement using complementary and substitute reinforcers on response rate and resistance to change in four adult participants diagnosed with development delays. After preference assessment, the favorite reinforcer, the second reinforcer, or the two were presented using a three-component multiple schedule. In successive conditions the reinforcers were complementary or substitutes. Varied complementary reinforcement produced higher responding than constant reinforcement in three participants but had no effects on resistance to change. These results partially support the notion that complementarity and substitutability play a role when varied reinforcement is used.

Using a concurrent choice paradigm, three pairs of female Long Evans rats were tested in a within-subjects ABA design, with one subject as the focal rat, and the other as the harnessed rat. In the center chamber of a three-chamber apparatus, focal rats were trained to press one lever to access the left chamber, and another lever to access the right chamber. In the baseline condition, focal rats could choose to respond for their partner or an empty chamber and were run until behavior stabilized. In the experimental condition, focal rats could choose to respond for their partner or an unfamiliar rat until stabilization, which was followed by a return to baseline. In the first baseline condition there was a preference for the partner compared to the empty chamber, but a preference for the unfamiliar rat during the experimental condition. The differential responding for familiar and unfamiliar rats between conditions suggests that there is reinforcing value to novel social interaction.

Satisficing is a concept borrowed from economics. It is based on the understanding that all behaviors are choices that require trade-offs between doing things the organism would rather not (pay money, make efforts, miss alternative opportunities) in exchange for obtaining desired things (reinforcers). Satisficing proposes that organisms behave as to obtain satisfactory amounts of the wanted item, by engaging in acceptable amounts of unwanted actions. The key is to determine how satisficing limits are set. Five rats were trained in a token economy to produce and accumulate LEDs (tokens) that could then be exchanged for a fixed volume of a sucrose solution. The initial (token production) link was a concurrent schedule with two response wheels; one under FR and the other under a mixed schedule of positive reinforcement and negative punishment. Both wheels required the same number of responses per reinforcement. Alternatively, rats could switch between the wheels and make combinations. Some combinations initiated the terminal link with lesser responses, thus minimizing effort. With repeated trials at higher schedules, between 70-90% of observed choices were among these satisficing combinations.

This study experimentally investigated human sharing in a laboratory task that simulated environmental variability and resource scarcity (shortfall risk). The project sought to determine whether a risk-reduction model of sharing developed by evolutionary biologists (derived from a risk-sensitive optimization model known as the energy-budget rule) could predict human cooperative behavior. The model predicted that sharing should occur expect when the correlation between the earnings of the participant and partner was not highly positive. Twelve participants responded to earn points exchangeable for money when point gains were unpredictable. Failures to acquire sufficient points resulted in a loss of accumulated earnings (a shortfall). Participants were given the choice between working alone or working with (fictitious) others and then pooling and sharing accumulated earnings. The correlation of earnings between the participant and partner(s) was manipulated across conditions. Results showed that participants chose the sharing option when it was optimal to do so; thereby conforming to the predictions of the risk-reduction model of sharing. However, participants also shared under the positive correlation condition. Thus, participants continued to share although there were no specific benefits for doing so. These results contribute to the understanding of how environmental context and social stimuli influences cooperation and sharing in situations involving risk.

Shaping is an omnipresent process that occurs during the lifetime of the organism and over the evolution of the species. As such, the process of shaping has been the subject of considerable amount of research, some of which has produced a systematic approach. Percentile schedules of reinforcement, for example, have provided researchers with a mathematical equation based on differential reinforcement and the probability of reinforcement. Most often this formula is used to increase some dimension of a response such a frequency or duration. Only a handful of studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of using the percentile schedule to decrease response rates. The present study examines the utility of manipulating response rates with the use of a percentile schedule of reinforcement (m=5, w=0.50) with college student performing a simple computer task using a multi-element design. Preliminary results suggest that percentile schedules of reinforcement are effective at not only increasing but also decreasing response rates.

The SubSearch Game is a videogame in which the player uses a mouse to move a submarine icon on a computer screen in order to retrieve underwater objects. Barriers separating the objects make the task progressively more difficult. The screen is divided vertically in half, with each half containing its own submarine, objects, and barriers. The player can switch between the half-screens at any point. Occasionally, according to concurrent variable-interval variable-interval (VI VI) schedules, the retrieval of an object results in the delivery of points via an on-screen counter and simultaneously in the delivery of coins, which are the players to keep. Retrieval may also produce the loss of points (and the need to return coins to the dispenser) but only if the object is retrieved on the left half of the screen. No losses are scheduled on the right half. Participants played six sessions in which no coin dispenser was used. In two additional sessions (sessions 7 and 8) the coin dispenser was operational. The sessions consisted of six 6-min components in which the reinforcer ratio varied, as did the screen color. Punishers were delivered in half of the components on the left side of the screen. An analysis determined whether there was a significant difference between sessions with points only and with points and coins. Table 1 summarizes the results for 26 participants. The number of clicks was the dependent variable and the number of reinforcers the independent variable. The F-test table shows that the PNlogCLCRa measure of respondingwas significantly affected by punishment and the use of coins.

At the beginning of the experiment, all participants were requested to complete a brief questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed to indicate whether the participant was risk averse or risk seeking. Based on the questionnaire results, participants were assigned to two groups, and the results from each were compared in terms of performance in the SubSearch Game. An analysis determined whether there was a significant difference between the groups. The Sub Search Game is a videogame in which the player uses a mouse to move a submarine icon on a computer screen in order to retrieve underwater objects. Barriers separating the objects make the task progressively more difficult. The screen is divided vertically in half, with each half containing its own submarine, objects, and barriers. The player can switch between the half-screens at any point. Occasionally, according to concurrent variable-interval variable-interval (VI VI) schedules, the retrieval of an object results in the delivery of points via an on-screen counter. Points accumulated during each 36-m session are exchanged for money at its end. Retrieval may also produce the loss of points but only when the object is on the left half of the screen. No losses are scheduled on the right half. The sessions consisted of six 6-min components in which the reinforcer ratio varied, as did the screen color. Punishers were delivered in half of the components on the left side of the screen. The experiment consisted of six sessions. Only the results from the last three were included in the analysis. Table 1 summarizes the results for 26 participants. The number of clicks was the dependent variable and the number of reinforcers the independent variable. The F-test table shows that the PNlogCLCRa measure of respondingwas significantly affected by punishment and risk aversion.

Avoidance is described as behaviour that prevents the occurrence of an aversive stimulus whereas, escape behaviour is described as a behaviour that results in the termination of an ongoing stimulus. There are two types of avoidance, both of which prevent an aversive stimulus from occurring. There is standard avoidance that involves a warning stimulus that signals an aversive stimulus will occur promptly. This type of avoidance is reinforced by the termination of the warning stimulus. The other form of avoidance is called Sidman or free-operant avoidance. This process does not include a warning stimulus and it is unknown what the exact reinforcing properties are that maintain it. Previous research determined that Betta splendens (Siamese fighting fish) do not engage in Sidman avoidance whereas other species including Carassius auratus (goldfish) do. This research looked at whether Betta splendens could be taught Sidman avoidance using prompting and reinforcement strategies. Experimenters established an increase in the frequency of independent crossovers between sides of the experimental tank to avoid an aversive stimulus, these avoidance responses were briefly maintained for two of the subjects and immediately decreased once reinforcement was removed for the third subject.

In later years, the use of gamification has bloomed and many claim that this method works as an effective teaching tool. However, few studies compare gamification to more traditional learning methods. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of competition on learning and compare the effects to an immediate feedback procedure that is done individually. The participants participated in two similar learning situations with immediate corrective feedback: One in which the participants answered questions through the multiplayer game Kahoot and one in which they answered questions through a program that gave them immediate corrective feedback on each question. In the programmed setting subjects did not have the opportunity to view how other participants were performing. Both tests conditions included a pretest, three training sessions and a posttest. This allowed us to examine individual performances in each test setting and compare the effects of different phases across tests. Subjects used in this experiment are Bachelor and Master level College students attending Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences.

Feedback is an important component in learning and examining under which conditions subjects has the largest performance increases is important to increase the effectiveness in any educational setting. Feedback is used for correcting and improving performance, but does it matter how this is given and how quickly? Teaching systems like interteaching, precision teaching and personalized system of instruction all use different aspects of the feedback component but it is hard to determine the precise effects of this feedback. The experiments conducted here explores how an answer key and immediate feedback procedure affects learning and presents preliminary results on how learning over time has been affected. Subjects used are bachelor level college students at Oslo and Akershus University College. The results indicate that there is a slight difference between the two methods but also show that subjects in one procedure keeps repeating old mistakes made in the first condition. Procedures used are multiple baseline measures and a repeated design, in addition to this some subjects were tested after a period of 14 days providing an insight into how performance is affected by time.

To date, no studies have investigated topographical variability or novelty with college students, yet such responding is a critical skill in the modern work place. This study used a reversal design to investigate if novel responding can be increased as a result of novelty specifying contingencies within college students using a simple shaping game apparatus. In the game, subjects used one hand to interact with a small object placed on the table in front of him or her. Pre-baseline training consisted of an errorless program designed to teach only a single initial topography which was repeated fifty times on an FR1 schedule. A reinforce all schedule was introduced to serve as a control. Variability specifying contingencies were introduced as the independent variable. Responding was only reinforced if topographies differed from previously exhibited forms. After a return to baseline, variability-specifying contingencies were reintroduced. After repeated reinforcement during the variability specifying condition, participants exhibited stereotypic responding during the baseline condition, questioning whether variability is an operant or a dimension of behavior that can be strengthened. Additionally controlling the response history limited the variable dimensions possible, suggesting that a broad topographical repertoires must be conditioned in order for participants to engage in variable dimensions of behavior.

Previous studies, primarily with adults with intellectual disability, demonstrated recombinative generalization of onset and rime units using matrix training. Study 1 extends that work to typically developing children referred by teachers as having reading difficulties. Three 4-5 year old boys participated. Two 24-word matrices were each divided into 6 four-word sets containing all combinations of two onsets and two rimes (e.g. bed, bag, ked, kag). Using a computerized, matching-to-sample (MTS) task, we taught students to select printed words that corresponded to spoken-word samples, from a choice pool containing all words in a set. After mastering sets receptively, participants demonstrated generalization to reading the taught words, and also generalization to MTS with untaught sets. Study 2 was the next step in instructional programming, designed to teach abstraction of phonemes within the rime. Each word set contained one onset and four rimes. Unlike Study 1, the four rimes included all combinations of two vowels and two codas (e.g., bed, beg, bad, bag). One participant from Study 1 has completed Study 2, and showed generalization to untaught words. Generalization to untaught words demonstrates the alphabetic principlethe concept that the same sound in different words is represented by the same letter.

We conducted a meta-analysis to analyze research articles which (1) were published between 2005 and 2014 in South Korea, (2) employed a single-case study method, and (3) implemented a behavioral intervention on vocational skills for post-school-age students with disabilities. 16 experimental research were searched and selected from peer-reviewed journal articles listed on the Korea Citation Index. We reorganized the articles by four different categories: settings, dependent and independent variables, and research designs. Then, we analyzed the 16 articles in terms of both quality and interventions effect size factors. We calculated the Percentage of Non-overlapping Data (PND) for each articles so that we identified an intervention effect size for each article. For articles quality factors, we used the quality indicators within a single case research (Horner et al., 2005). The results showed that local community and vocational skills were addressed as a research setting and dependent variables in most articles. Community-based instruction was most frequently implemented as a independent variable. Moreover, approximately 50% of the articles employed a multiple probe design. The 16 articles achieved sufficient scores for 7their quality as a single case research in general.

This study investigated the effect of the Good Behavior Game (GBG) on on-task behavior for three students in a third-grade classroom, and the effect on latency to transition for all students in that classroom. The classroom teacher nominated the three participants as the most off-task in the class. Previous research has demonstrated the efficacy of the GBG at increasing on-task behavior, but few studies have shown what happens in other settings when the GBG is implemented in one setting. This study used a multiple-baseline across settings design, and showed that when the GBG was implemented in one setting, behavior improved only in the setting where it was implemented. However, when the game was moved into other settings, on-task behavior increased in those settings. Overall, findings support the use of the GBG for increasing on-task behavior and decreasing latency to transition, but suggest that teachers should only expect increased on-task behavior while playing the game.

Drug abstinence studies indicate that escalating reinforcement schedules maintain abstinence for longer periods than fixed reinforcement schedules. The current study evaluated whether escalating reinforcement schedules maintain more quiz taking than fixed reinforcement schedules. A secondary purpose was to improve student attendance. The study was conducted across three sections of an Introduction to Behavior Analysis course. In all sections, online quizzes were open to students with two or fewer absences. During baseline and for the control group, bonus points were distributed on random days for attending class. Following baseline, the fixed reinforcement section received 5 bonus points for each quiz completed while the escalating reinforcement section received 3 bonus points for the first quiz with an increase of 0 or 1 point for each consecutive quiz completed. On three quizzes the bonus points did not increase in order to keep equal the total number of points available across the semester. If a quiz was missed the number of bonus points was reset to the beginning value. Results indicate that the escalating reinforcement schedule maintained more quiz taking than the fixed reinforcement schedule. The control group took the fewest number of quizzes. Quiz access appeared to have no effect on attendance, however across the four course exams there was a correlation between the section with the most quiz takers and the highest average exam score. These results support the finding of contingency management for drug abstinence that escalating reinforcement schedules maintain longer periods of behavior than fixed reinforcement schedules.

Parenting styles are associated with child behavior problems such as aggression, opposition or rules violation. Parenting practices have influence in child behavior. The Alabama Parenting Questionnaire assesses parenting practices such as parenting positive or inconsistence discipline. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of Alabama Parenting Questionnaire adapted to Mexican population and compare parenting practices between socioeconomic level of the parents. We worked with 330 parents (M=36.9 years)of children between 3 and 12 years old, who belonged to a Treatment Community for Adolescents in conflict with law, a church, a community psychological service of a private university and a private religious school. We apply a version of Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (parent version of Shelton, Frick & Wotton, 1996) adapted to mexican culture. We performed a factor analysis with varimax rotation and one-way ANOVA to compare the differences between socioeconomic level. The analysis showed 4 factors (Inconsistent Discipline, Positive Parenting, Poor Monitoring and Involvement). There are no significance differences in parenting practices between socioeconomic level. The results show a valid Mexican version of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire. In order to be representative, it is necessary to continue adapting the questionnaire with rural and urban population.

The aim of this study was to compare parental practices in relation with school level ( Low school, Elementary school, Junior High School, High School and University), socioeconomic level (Incomes: E = $0-158.76, D= $158.82-399.94, D+=$400-682.29, C = 682.35 -2058.76, C+=2058.82-4999.94 )and; age of the parents (18-28 years, 29-40 years, 41-71 years). Participated 332 caregivers between 18 and 71 years old with. Participants answered the Parenting Practices Inventory (CPI) composed of six subscales (Punishment, Material Gains, Social Interaction, Norms, Social Gains and Limits), and the Child Management Skills Questionnaire (CMSQ) composed of four subscales (Ignore to promote appropriate behavior (ITAB), Praise, Clear instructions, problem solving and Rules establishment (CPER) and Social and academic interaction (SAI)). Results showed that parents between 29-39 years have lower percentage (M = 33.5) in Praise, parents with High School (M = 10.76) and Junior High School (M = 10.11) have higher percentage in ITAB. Parents with University (M = 28.28) and high school (M = 23.05) have higher percentage in the ICTE subscale. Parents with low school (M = 60.89), Junior High School (M = 50.56), income E (M = 56.83) and income C + (M = 51.39) reported more use of material gains.

Application of ABAI to domestic violence and extreme household dysfunction. Domestic violence, and the even more prevalent morass of extreme household dysfunction from which much domestic violence arises, are widespread, socially significant problems, causing many injuries, deaths, disrupted marriages, broken homes, and, especially, scarred childhoods that then perpetuate problems to an exponentially greater number of persons and households for generations to come. They are also behaviors, and as such, can be addressed by the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis, and yet, inexplicably, arent, at least on any widespread scale, as evidence by the dearth of such presentations at previous ABAI meetings, and the absence of a category of submission for such. Repetitive, chronic dysfunctional behaviors, habits, set the stage for acute dysfunctional behaviors that can in an instant change the life trajectories of all family members. Principles of public health offer that traditional efforts such as awareness campaigns and educational programs are simply not very efficient, and often not effective, as means of controlling a public health problem.when compared with approaches that are powerful enough to solve it by directly changing behavior, and/or the environment (antecedent state). This poster will outline approaches to apply ABA principals at the individual, family, and community level.

Practical parenting parents of adolescents in conflict with the law some studies indicate that the conduct of minors is highly related to the conduct of their parents (Ayala, 2000). It has found that low levels of communication between parents and children, and the lack of supervision, is associated with the development of aggressive behavior (Cavell, 2000). The objective of the present study was to compare the parenting practices used by parents who have teenage children in conflict with the law and parents with children without conflicts of this type. 298 parents participated, 149 parents formed the group with one minor child offending and 149 without one offending child. Used inventory practices of breeding (IPC), (2013 Lopez) with a reliability of 92 to learn practices that parents were carried out with their children. The results showed significant differences in the sub scales of material gain (t = 4.22, sig:. 000) and limits (t = 2.11, sig: 0.035), parents of adolescents in conflict with the law showed higher score on the earnings scale materials and limits with an average of 20.26 and 20.79 respectively, with the above it can be concluded that limits laying down their children are different in groups like the material gains that they can grant to the conduct of their children, given these results is necessary to investigate other factors engaged by what can be related to other risk factors such as lower education level or household income.

The users leave the intervention before the first month of treatment, when they have not received the expected benefits with the procedures. In Mexico the 51.9% of drug users leave the intervention before three first sessions. Therapist�s behavior has influence in the user�s behavior. The aim of this study was to describe the relationship between the therapist�s behavior and user�s attendance to third session after a one session of brief counseling using motivational interviewing. We worked with 8 therapists (87.5 % female) aged 22 to 43 years old and 8 men aged 18 to 57 years old who used marijuana, cocaine or tobacco, at the public institution created to prevent drug abuse. We used a sequential behavioral coding system in motivational interviewing that includes 20 behavioral categories. We obtained a reliability of 0.87 through kappa index and we performed a sequential analysis. The results showed therapist�s behaviors consistent with motivational interviewing were more likely to be followed by user�s behavior change talk. With those users who stopped treatment therapists showed more inconsistent behavior with motivational interviewing. By understanding the behavior performed by the therapist and his connection with user�s attendance we will hope foster the behaviors that increase adherence to treatment.

Effectiveness of short text messages and videos on television and media technology on parenting strategies Behavioral training for parents has been recognized as the top intervention strategy for disruptive behaviors (Forehand, Jones, & Parent, 2013). Existing programs for the development of parenting skills are not readily accessible, due to time, effort, or cost demands (York & Loeb, 2014). That is why advances in digital information technologies are creating opportunities for behavior analysts (Dallery, Kurti & Erb, 2014). In parenting practices in particular, text messages sent to parents have shown to be effective in transmitting these skills (York & Loeb, 2014). Thus the aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of short text messages and videos on television and media technology on parenting strategies for parents. One hundred and seventeen parents (93 women and 24 men), with an age range of 49 years, participated in the study; parents had at least a child between four and 12 years old. A pre-post experimental design was used. Parents answered the Parenting Practices Scale (IPC) and the Children Behavior Management Questionnaire (CHAMI), and were then randomly assigned to each of the following three groups: 47 to text messages recommendations, 34 to video recommendations and 36 to a control group which did not receive any recommendations. The initial results of single-factor analysis of variance showed no significant differences between groups before the procedure. It is expected to find significant differences from the effect of the technological resource used.

Obesity is a significant public health concern and socially significant problem. One way to conceptualize obesity is through an individuals choice-making regarding their consumption of foods and exercises. Behavior Economic Theory (BET) is an efficient methodology to assess choice making and describe relationships between co-occurring choices. The purpose of this study was to describe the relationship between diet and exercise, through the BET framework, in adolescent female who are obese within an ABC design. Using a concurrent schedules design, participants recorded daily perceived calories consumed and expended using an electronic self-monitoring program for baseline (Phase 1). After Phase 1, the researcher presented a choice between diet and exercise and developed a behavioral contract with goals addressing that choice for Phase 2. A subsequent behavioral contract was developed to target the alternative lifestyle change in Phase 3. The participants continued to record daily consumption and expenditure during Phases 2 and 3. The relationship between consumption and exercise the 3 of 5 participants was complementary. However, successful weight loss occurred for the participant with a substitutable relationship. Interobserver agreement was calculated for 34% of days and averaged 98%.

Discrete Trial Training (DTT) is an integral part of evidence-based early intensive behaviour intervention for young children on the autism spectrum. The 3-term contingency (i.e., Antecedent-Behaviour-Consequence, A-B-C) utilised in DTTs is the smallest learn unit and new skills are broken down into small teachable learning units. While the science behind DTTs is the same regardless where they are carried out, cultural difference may influence the actual execution of the DTT. The present study compared the use of DTTs by parents who took part in parent-training and professionals in Northern Ireland and Northern China. A total of 4 participants from Northern Ireland and 4 from Northern China (3 parents and 1 professional in each country) were observed across 6 sessions. A data collection model was developed based on the A-B-C learn unit to record treatment fidelity of parents and professionals during parent training. Findings showed that treatment fidelity increased across trials due to parent training and that the application of Discrete Trial Training was similar despite cultural differences. Findings are discussed in cross cultural comparison discourse.

Multiple schedules of reinforcement (MS), a common treatment adjunct following functional communication training, has been demonstrated to be effective for reducing problem behavior. However, the likelihood of positive outcomes is not clear, because publication bias (i.e., selectively publishing intervention studies with favorable results; Sham & Smith, 2014) may contribute its reported efficacy. This gap in the literature may be resolved by a consecutive case series analysis. This study systematically examined archived data from 159 patients who received treatment for problem behavior between 2009 and 2015 at an intensive, day-treatment facility. Multiple schedules were employed for 25% (n=40) of the cases examined. Results showed MS were used primarily to address problem behavior maintained by access to social positive reinforcement (i.e., tangible and attention; n=39). Successful implementation of the MS, as defined by >80% reduction of problem behavior and discriminated mands across reinforcement and extinction components, was observed for 43% of the cases (n=17) during initial implementation (i.e., before schedule thinning or other treatment modifications). Case demographics (e.g., age, sex, and clinical diagnoses) and other factors associated with treatment (e.g., duration of treatment, treatment modifications, overall success, generalization, etc.) will be presented. Treatment implications and future directions for research will be described.

Conducting an efficient functional analysis of self-injurious behavior (SIB) is ethically and practically important to save time and minimize risk of injury. Querim et al. (2013) demonstrated that an extended alone condition can reliably determine when the function of a target behavior is automatic reinforcement. Further assessment of automatically-maintained SIB is, however, often required to inform a successful function-based treatment. A relationship between self-injury and self-restraint has been discussed by researchers, including Hagopian, Rooker and Zarcone (2015) who attempted to delineate subtypes of automatic self-injury. The current study attempts to extend the research by utilizing an extended alone functional analysis followed by a competing stimulus assessment to develop an effective function-based treatment of self-injury. The participant was a 21-year old male diagnosed with Autism who exhibited high frequency, high intensity SIB. The extended alone data showed a stable trend of responding, which indicated self-injury was maintained by automatic reinforcement. Interobserver agreement averaged 85%. The results of the subsequent competing stimulus assessment, conducted using a multi-element design, showed that self-restraint competed with self-injury. The importance of continuing to evolve the technology of functional analyses to inform function-based treatment of automatic self-injury will be discussed.

Preference assessments have been widely used to identify preferences and potential reinforcers for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Fisher et al. (1992) reported randomization of item pairs when describing procedures for implementing a paired choice preference assessment; however, the effects of randomized versus fixed order item pairs has not been systematically examined in the applied literature. Therefore, the current study evaluated the effects of randomized versus fixed order item pairs during implementation of a paired choice preference assessment for an individual with IDD, admitted to a residential treatment facility for assessment and treatment of severe challenging behavior. Results of paired choice preference assessments, conducted with both randomized and fixed order item pairs, identified the same item as highest ranked for the participant during 3 out of 4 assessments regardless of item pair ordering. Additionally, repeated measures revealed similar levels of variability across and between fixed and random order pairing conditions. Results will be discussed in terms of increasing the efficiency of conducting preference assessments in applied settings.

Match-to-sample (MTS) is one method commonly used to teach stimulus relations. The order in which stimuli are presented during MTS teaching has been shown to have an effect on rate of acquisition. Petursdottir and Aguilar (2015) compared acquisition under 2 conditions during auditory-visual MTS tasks with 3 typically developing children. During 1 condition the sample stimulus was presented before the comparison stimuli (sample first). During the 2nd condition the comparison stimuli were presented before the sample stimulus (comparison first). Presentation of the sample first resulted in more rapid acquisition for all 3 participants. The purpose of the current study is to extend the findings of Petursdottir and Aguilar (2015) to 1) assess a 3rd condition where the sample and comparison stimuli are presented together (simultaneous), 2) evaluate presentation order during visual-visual match-to-sample tasks, and 3) include participants diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The current study evaluates acquisition during 3 visual-visual MTS formats (sample first, comparison first, and simultaneous) using a multiple probe design.

Fluency Training emphasizes rate as a preferred response dimension ( Lindsey,1991) with evidence that learning to perform a component skill accurately at high rates could lead to faster acquisition of composite skills ( Binder 1996; Johnson and Layng,1994). Two participants, KS a girl aged 17 years and SV a boy aged 7 years with diagnoses of autism and severe phonological disorders participated in the study. Based on an assessment, discriminated echoic responding to the sounds of A and U was targeted and trained using Precision Teaching procedures and Standard Celeration Charting. The study used a Multiple baseline across subjects. For KS correct responding accelerated from baseline rate of 4 per minute to 60 per minute and probe for untrained composite skill of correct articulation of Consonant Vowel combinations revealed improvement from 20 per minute to 35 per minute. Five days into tintervention, SVs responding has high error rates. The study offers a limited evidence of effectiveness of precision teaching procedures in improving articulation in children with phonological disorders

Play deficits form core feature of autism. Children on the autistic spectrum disorder often exhibit stereotypic and repetitive behavior and fewer appropriate play behaviors. Indeed, these de?cits are central to the de?nition of autism (DSM-IV; APA, 1994). The present intervention aimed to teach functional play with toys to a 4-year-old boy with autism. A task analysis was conducted to break down the chain of responses involved in play with different toys. The child was taught to engage in functional play with the toys using discrete trial training (DTT) approach on the table top. Acquisition of the skill was facilitated by using physical guidance as a response prompt and later faded using most to least (MTL) prompting technique. The chain was taught using total task presentation method and a continuous schedule of reinforcement. Multiple baseline across behaviors (Different Toys) design was used in the study to demonstrate experimental control. Independent and appropriate functional play was acquired by the child with intervention with the toys selected for purpose of the study. Play behavior was generalized across similar sets of toys and other staff in the center.