Association for Behavior Analysis International

Baer, Wolf, and Risley (1968) audaciously aspired to making a difference. Modestly, however, they encouraged a "self-evaluating, discovery-oriented" process. This learning stance helps to enable the dreams of Dr. Judi Komaki. She'll talk about just two. Curious how an inner city public high school managed to maintain a graduation rate of 95%, Dr. Komaki shadowed a gifted principal for three semesters. She saw how he stealthily created a safe, supportive climate, which enticed the students to attend and their dedicated teachers to remain. Just as critical, however, she learned how the chancellor created a supportive climate, empowering and establishing full-throated organizational metrics and incentives for principals. Currently, Dr. Komaki is trying to prevent sexual assault in the United States Army. Initially stymied, she finally figured out how we as behavior analysts reduced workplace accidents by reinforcing the positive (safety). If cultures could be created in which team members ferociously protect one another, assaults would drop. Team culture clearly needs to be bolstered. But just as important, given the severe under-reporting of assault, the challenge is to help busy commanders motivate junior officers by providing timely information and feedback about whether their team is on the right track. Imagine if we could ensure that only leaders successful at building positive climates were promoted.

Master's and post-masters behavior analysts and psychologists.

Challenging behavior continues to plague both primary and secondary schools, despite a raft of educational and governmental policies to tackle it. The need for practical, relevant, and evidence-based strategies for analyzing and treating these behaviors has never been more pressing than it is today. Behavior analysis certainly has much to offer with regard to helping schools solve problems and achieve the goals set for both students and teachers. However, our literature has tended to focus less on applications of our science to typically developing children and adolescents, so there is still much we don't know about the nuances of working with these populations. This presentation will address some of the challenges associated with applying functional analysis and intervention strategies in mainstream classrooms, as well as delineating some possible solutions derived from both research and clinical practice. Further, it will suggest some research questions that may be important if behavior analysis is to fulfill its promise to mainstream students, their parents, and their teachers.

This talk will provide a summary of results obtained from a Maternal and Child Health-funded project in which functional analyses and functional communication training (FCT) were conducted in the homes of young children with autism who engaged in problem behaviors. All procedures were conducted by parents with live coaching from applied behavior analysts. Functional analyses were conducted within multielement designs, and FCT was conducted within reversal designs and as part of a randomized clinical trial. Inter-observer agreement was conducted on 30% of sessions. The talk will begin with a brief summary of previously funded inVIVO and telehealth projects using the same procedures and will then focus on the current in-home telehealth procedures. Video clips will highlight individual cases and group summaries will be provided for the assessment and treatment results.

Practitioners and applied behavior analysts.

This panel composed of experts in cultural analysis invites you to engage with them in a discussion on the timely and critical topic of promoting sustainable cultures. Three speakers will bring profound and innovative insights pertaining to both theoretical grappling with and applied undertaking of the behavioral change initiatives required to build a more sustainable society. With their macro perspectives and breadth and diversity of expertise, these panelists can identify high leverage strategies for some of the most socially relevant behaviors in the realms of education, therapy, organizational behavior, community interventions, and basic research. Specific discussion points may include the compatibility and complementarity of the speakers' respective theories regarding cultural analysis; the current status of behavior analytic conceptual frameworks of cultural analysis, their relevance in promoting sustainability, and identification of important areas of continued development; and how applied behavior analysts can promote positive cultural change in various realms of practice where the relevance to sustainability is often overlooked.

Psychologists, behavior analysts, practitioners, and graduate students.

The field of behavioral parent training began in the 1960s and has become one of the predominant empirically based clinical approaches for addressing child behavior problems and developmental delays. Three historical trends spurred the initial development of parent training: concerns about the ineffectiveness of traditional child therapy, the burgeoning growth of behavior modification, and the idea that using parents to deliver mental health services could enhance the effectiveness of therapy. Early parent training research focused on small studies examining the effects of various treatment components and training strategies based on learning principles. Subsequent trends involved the development of standardized intervention models and research on their effectiveness; examinations of generalization; and applications of parent training in areas beyond child disruptive behavior or delayed development. Despite the phenomenal growth of behavioral parent training, research has identified challenges related to parent engagement/dropout, differing responsiveness across diverse cultural and demographic groups, and the need for high quality training and supervision of practitioners. These issues constitute important current and future research directions. This presentation will provide an overview of behavioral parent training research across the decades using illustrative examples and will discuss the implications of this research for practitioners working with children and their families.

Practitioners, applied researchers, educators, and mental health professionals.

Behavior analysis has a long tradition of excellence in teaching that appears, currently, to be largely overlooked by mainstream psychology. As a new teacher, Dr. Matthew C. Bell, too, initially ignored this literature and followed the time-honored method of lecturing. Recently, however, he has been reflecting upon how and what he teaches, particularly when he teaches courses in learning. His own interest comes, not coincidentally, at a time when teaching effectiveness has seen renewed attention including the development of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), a push for more university-led online courses, flipped classrooms, a new American Psychological Association journal on the scholarship of teaching and learning, and a growing literature in cognitive psychology applying the findings from the experimental memory literature to the classroom. What exactly is the best way to teach a college course to maximize student learning? What exactly should students be learning in a course on learning? Serving as a case study, Dr. Bell will address this question and describe teaching his own upper-division learning course, including what and how he teaches, the contingencies affecting his teaching behavior, and the rationale for his approach.