Conference Archive 2017

Skinner’s research and writings have provided the world with a rich accounting of human behavior and learning. It only stands to reason that his work would translate into effective educational practices. Although one of his greatest disappointments was his failure to have more influence over the educational establishment, several of his ideas and discoveries are part of the fabric of our educational system today. Many of the well accepted teaching practices found in today’s classroom’s had their origin in Skinner’s efforts to develop programmed instruction, teaching machines, and a technology of teaching. An overview of current educational practices that had their origin in Skinner’s laboratory will be presented. A few important derivatives that have had a beneficial impact on the education of children with autism will be highlighted.

For the past fifty years, the US and State legislatures have enacted legislation that has transformed the service landscape for people with autism and other disabilities. Only recently, however, has research examined the impact of these policies on people with autism and their families. This presentation will summarize research that examines the effects of some of those policies, including autism insurance mandates, Medicaid policies, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The presentation also will include a discussion of the particular importance of this research in the current political climate and future directions for policy and services research in health care and education.

Presentation will include a brief overview of evidence-based interventions for students with autism. Since most evidence suggests the importance of applied behavior analysis (ABA) in guiding interventions for individuals with autism, many sessions at the National Autism Conference focus on ABA. During this session, the basic principles of ABA will be presented for beginners and those who want a review of those principles. This session is appropriate for parents and educators. The content of this session will prepare attendees to get the most out of this year’s conference. Information presented will be supported by videos of ABA-based interventions. Additionally, the session will include a brief review of how data may be presented in the various ABA-based sessions occurring at the conference.

This session is an introduction to teaching functional skills and Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) to individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities using the principles of applied behavior analysis. Functional skills are a critical outcome for individuals with developmental disabilities. Some examples of the skills that will be addressed during the presentation include toilet training, washing hands, cooking, taking a shower, cleaning up, making a purchase at a store, crossing the street, using public transportation, and completing jobs during competitive employment. This presentation will focus on teaching the basic skills that are needed to successfully teach these skills to a wide variety of learners of different ages. In addition, participants will learn how to individualize the programs for the unique needs of individual learners and troubleshoot problems when learners fail to acquire the necessary skills.

The topics we’ll review include selection of behavior by its consequences; contingencies of reinforcement and aversive control; stimulus control and attention; and sources of novel behavior. We’ll examine the rationales behind important behavioral language practices, such as (i) specifying what’s reinforced by what in arranging and/or interpreting reinforcement contingencies, (ii) describing behavior in the context of three-term or higher-order contingencies, (iii) distinguishing between positive and negative reinforcement, (iv) emphasizing the behavior of attending in the analysis of stimulus control, and (v) treating complex behavior in terms of multiple causation. We’ll identify and address misrepresentations of behavior analytic concepts and practices, as when ignoring is suggested as the most effective treatment for reducing unwelcome behavior, or when reinforcement is falsely equated with bribery, or when it’s argued that reinforcement has hidden costs.

This presentation includes information and tools for developing and maintaining an emotionally healthy family. Topics include: coping with everyday life, the special needs of mothers and fathers, issues facing siblings, working together as a couple, reducing stress, and the meaning of acceptance.

This presentation discusses how to conduct a safe and practical functional analysis that takes an average of 25 minutes and as little as 5 minutes. We will then discuss how to use the results of the functional analysis to design effective, skill-based treatments that include (1) the teaching of complex and developmentally appropriate functional communication skills, and (2) skill-based delay tolerance procedures that improve compliance, task engagement, and social interaction. The goal of the practical functional assessment and skill-based treatment process is to effect more global changes in the functional repertoires needed to be successful in contextually complex environments with natural reinforcement contingencies.

This session will provide (a) a foundation of basic building blocks of special education law; (b) a synthesis of the applicable legislation, regulations, federal agency policy interpretations, and court decisions, with emphasis on ASD-specific issues of eligibility and methodology; and (c) a case scenario based on a recent major appeals court decision.

Reinforcement is defined by its effects on the future probability of the operant class upon which it is contingent. As such, it is never correct to say that reinforcement did not work; if it did not work, then it wasn’t reinforcement. Still, this is not an uncommon expression to hear in applied settings. In most cases, the speaker is describing a situation in which a response-consequence contingency was arranged, but failed to produce a demonstrable increase in the behavior, or aspect of behavior, that the contingency designer had intended. There are numerous explanations for such outcomes. Some are related to the stimulus used as a reinforcer, but others are more directly related to the response or to the reinforcement system in which the contingency is embedded. In this presentation, I will draw upon the behavior analytic literature, both basic and applied, to a) illustrate no less than 15 reasons why reinforcement contingency failures occur, and b) when possible, suggest strategies to repair the contingency. Test

Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) is a branch of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) that involves using the basic behavioral principles to change employee behavior in the workplace. OBM is particularly relevant to classroom teachers who are often responsible for coordinating a group of assistants or paraprofessionals. This presentation will provide a basic introduction to OBM, what it is, and how it can be helpful to classroom teachers. Specific objectives for participants are to: 1) Recognize what OBM is, 2) Identify how OBM can be useful with classroom staff, 3) Be familiar with some common OBM assessments, and 4) List several techniques that might be useful in improving staff member’s behavior.

In this presentation, I will attempt to illustrate a functional analysis of curriculum development and suggest an additional level of specificity in the design and implementation of behaviorally derived instructional sequences for children with autism. First I will suggest a way of organizing skills based on whether they constitute a generalized operant class or cumulative/finite skills and how such classification necessarily induces a consideration of mastery criteria for each skill. Then I will endeavor to demonstrate how when behavioral topographies are brought under the relevant sources of environmental control they lead to rapid and generalized learning, enabling the child to acquire novel responses with minimal teaching. This conceptual framework will be illustrated in relation to two pivotal skills that may lay the foundation for the development of multiply controlled generalized verbal behavior: simple and conditional discriminative learning and naming.

I will identify events in my own life that led me to advocate for the independent practice of behavior analysis as a profession with a somewhat different approach to assessment, treatment, and ethical practice. I will present case studies and stories to illustrate the need for rigorous training, credentialing, and oversight of behavior analysis professionals. I will present a model for training and developing ABA professionals that emphasizes ethical practices.

Participants will learn how to effectively supervise and monitor classrooms using best practices of supervision. The session focus will be on treatment fidelity, classroom implementation and monitoring, utilizing transcription as a specific tool to give objective feedback on intensive teaching sessions, and other tools to help deliver effective objective supervision to classroom teams

Description forthcoming

Many of the key components for advancing verbal and social development have been identified in research, as have several protocols to establish missing development. I shall outline a few of these and explain how each of these is related to learned social reinforcers. Verbal behavior is social and social behavior is verbal. The foundations for social and verbal behavior consist of a hierarchy of learned reinforcers. Real progress requires educators and therapists to focus on establishing the learned natural reinforcers for social and verbal behavior rather the topography of behavior. Social and verbal behaviors are inseparable from function and function is synonymous with particular types of reinforcers.

This presentation highlights the critical role of early diagnosis and intervention in attenuating the symptoms of autism. Data will be presented on early diagnostic indicators obtained through eye-tracking-based behavioral assays that quantify the social disabilities in autism. The results of these assays were used to generate “growth charts” of normative social engagement, and the deviations from the norm were taken as early indicators of risk. These methods yielded high sensitivity and specificity for the screening of infants. The ultimate goal of this effort is to develop objectified and quantified tools for the detection of autism in infancy, tools that might be deployed in primary care and pediatricians’ offices. This work will be contextualized in terms of recent developmental social neuroscience research with toddlers with autism, which implicated developmentally very early emerging, and evolutionarily highly conserved, mechanisms of social adaptation that set the stage for reciprocal social interaction, which in term represent the platform for early social brain development. These mechanisms of socialization are under stringent genetic control, setting the scientific basis for parent-delivered, community-viable, early treatment in which social engagement is “engineered” via daily activities, thus impacting a child’s development during every moment of social interaction. Effective screening of infants would be unethical without a clinical infrastructure providing access to family support and early intervention for those screened positive. Through collaboration with Dr. Amy Wetherby, we are now establishing tools and procedures for the full integration of primary care physicians and early intervention providers with the goal of establishing a new system of healthcare delivery for infants and toddlers with autism spectrum disorders. This system deploys “Early Social Interaction” as its modality of parent-delivered treatment.

Excel is used by many behavior analysts for a variety of tasks. There are several useful tools that can be used in most applications. This presentation will demonstrate some useful tools, including copying cells to develop date sequences, formulas, data tables, and data validation. All of these tools will be combined into a staff management system.

This session, especially for parents of young children in early intervention, will be split into two parts. During the first half, participants will learn how the early intervention structure and process supports inclusion and learn ways to build successful inclusion for children. In the second half, participants will have the opportunity to visit resource and networking tables offering resources, supports, strategies and ideas for successfully including children in everyday activities, routines, and school and community settings. Evaluation and IFSP/IEP, online resources, support groups, collaboration with teams and assistive technology will all be addressed.

Interprofessional collaboration when implementing evidence-based interventions is key for optimal student outcomes. This session will discuss important components of successful collaboration between speech-language pathologists and other professionals working in ABA-based public school classrooms. The session will include considerations for scheduling, assessment and goal-development, staff training, and managing potential professional disagreements.

This presentation will explore evidence-based strategies for teaching handwriting to students with autism. Video examples, resources, and relevant research will be presented

In this presentation, I will attempt to illustrate a functional analysis of curriculum development and suggest an additional level of specificity in the design and implementation of behaviorally derived instructional sequences for children with autism. First I will suggest a way of organizing skills based on whether they constitute a generalized operant class or cumulative/finite skills and how such classification necessarily induces a consideration of mastery criteria for each skill. Then I will endeavor to demonstrate how when behavioral topographies are brought under the relevant sources of environmental control they lead to rapid and generalized learning, enabling the child to acquire novel responses with minimal teaching. This conceptual framework will be illustrated in relation to two pivotal skills that may lay the foundation for the development of multiply controlled generalized verbal behavior: simple and conditional discriminative learning and naming.

I will identify events in my own life that led me to advocate for the independent practice of behavior analysis as a profession with a somewhat different approach to assessment, treatment, and ethical practice. I will present case studies and stories to illustrate the need for rigorous training, credentialing, and oversight of behavior analysis professionals. I will present a model for training and developing ABA professionals that emphasizes ethical practices.

Description forthcoming

Speech-language pathologists play a critical part of the intervention team in ABA-based public school classrooms. This session will review scientifically informed assessment, programming, and implementation techniques for key speech-language areas, including augmentative and alternative communication systems, vocal shaping, and language instruction.

One educational method that is highly effective and supported by published evidence is fluency training. Fluency training is implemented for skills that a child can demonstrate but not at a speed that is efficient. It serves to build the rate at which particular skills are emitted. Many educators are familiar with fluency for academic skills such as words read correctly per minute. This session will extend verbal skills using fluency training. Rate data is a valid measurement and fluency training is an effective teaching tool; however, an analysis of when to use such tools is important for maximizing effective instructional time. Skills taught to fluency aims serve to build retention, endurance, and stability, and promote generalization for more complex language.

This session will review social skills strategies for students with autism and intellectual disabilities. This presentation will cover assessment, procedures, and implementation of social skills for students ranging in age and skill level. The information presented will be based upon a social skills sequence that is aligned with individual assessments and data based decision making. It will review topics related to mand training, strategies for conditioning peers as reinforcers, peer to peer manding, play and leisure skills as well as identify a sequence of social skills or established curriculum that is used to assess, teach and monitor social skills.

This presentation will focus on how early interventionists can support parents and caregivers to target the core deficits of autism and develop skills within their daily routines. The presentation is based upon the authors’ research of and training in evidence-based practices and their many years’ experience working with infants and toddlers who have a diagnosis of autism or who have “red flags.” The presenters will integrate developmental principles with treatment-focused information and will discuss how early interventionists can support parents of children birth to age five from first concerns through the process of getting a diagnosis and accessing services and supports. There will be discussion of the presenters’ model of the core deficits of autism (flexibility; regulation; making sense of self, others and the environment; and social communication) and strategies to embed skill development into daily routines including bedtime, book time, mealtime and snack time, household activities, playtime, community outings, diapering and dressing, and hygiene. This presentation will integrate developmental perspectives and strategies with the principles of applied behavior analysis and focus on practical, functional intervention approaches.

Alternate eligible content is the cornerstone of content, instruction, and assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities. This session will provide participants an opportunity to examine practices, content and assessment updates that lead to meaningful and challenging, yet attainable targets for life-long learning and success for students eligible for the Pennsylvania Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Participants will have an opportunity to practice development of content targets aligned to alternate eligible content, review essentialized examples and learn how to apply them to instruction. Changes with the 2018 PASA will be shared and discussed.

This session will provide a review of various strategies and procedures for the delivery of effective, high-quality instruction. The focus will be on evidence-based interventions that include addressing the core issues of autism spectrum disorders, namely communication and social skills. Specific procedures to improve instructional control skills will be emphasized, as well as instructional procedures for both individual and small group sessions.

The workshop focuses on the principles, strategies and evidence base of the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM), an early intervention program designed to address symptoms of autism during infancy, toddlerhood, and the preschool years. The ESDM emphasizes the importance of providing intensive teaching, drawing from evidence-based educational strategies, individualizing the program, and addressing multiple developmental domains. The ESDM approach has a distinctive focus on early social-emotional engagement, social motivation and social learning as the framework for learning. Additionally, the ESDM includes specific procedures to individualize treatment goals so that the teaching program is built on each child’s individual profile of strengths and weakness and ongoing monitoring of treatment response. The naturalistic framework of ESDM is based on the notion that teaching is more powerful when embedded in the context of the real-life, daily routines where the behaviors targeted by treatment would naturally take place. Participants will learn about (1) recent scientific evidence on early learning in ASD informing intervention procedures (2) the principles and strategies of ESDM, (3) the different ways in which the ESDM can be delivered, including group-based implementation and parent-implemented programs, (4) the differences and areas of overlap between ESDM and other early intervention approaches, and (5) recent research on the effectiveness and sustainability of ESDM.

The tools a behavior analyst brings to the table with regards to interventions with clients should also be used to govern one’s own behavior. Ethics is a topic that is all-encompassing, and practitioners can often face a variety of decisions that should be driven by ethics-related undercurrents. This session will provide an analysis of ethical behavioral approaches, practical applications, data collection techniques, and strategies to improve expertise. Daily decisions, integrity and principles occur in contingencies that should be analyzed and managed to maintain professionalism.

Description forthcoming

Problem solving is defined as manipulating stimuli to increase the probability of arriving at a solution to a problem. When given a problem, such as a math problem or a question that involves recalling a past event, an individual arrives at a solution by engaging in a few behaviors, such as asking herself questions, drawing out possible solutions, and visualizing. A challenge of analyzing problem solving is it often occurs covertly, or within an individual’s skin. Although typically developing people engage in problem solving on a daily basis, there is limited research on teaching problem solving strategies to individuals with disabilities, especially in a behavior analytic framework. Two potential benefits of teaching problem solving skills to children with autism are less rote responding and more generalization. In this presentation, the presenter will provide a conceptual analysis of problem solving and review previous research on using problem solving to teach academic, communication, and social skills. The presenter will also describe his current research on teaching problem solving to help children with autism recall past events, and he will recommend directions for research and practice.

Treatments of pediatric feeding disorders based on applied behavior analysis (ABA) have the most empirical support in the research literature (Volkert & Piazza, 2012); however, professionals often recommend, and caregivers often use, treatments that have limited empirical support. In the current investigation, we compared a modified sequential oral sensory approach (M-SOS; Benson, Parke, Gannon, & Muñoz, 2013) to an ABA approach for the treatment of the food selectivity of 6 children with autism. We randomly assigned 3 children to ABA and 3 children to M-SOS and compared the effects of treatment in a multiple baseline design across novel, healthy target foods. We used a multielement design to assess treatment generalization. Consumption of target foods increased for children who received ABA, but not for children who received M-SOS. We subsequently implemented ABA with the children for whom M-SOS was not effective and observed a potential treatment generalization effect during ABA when M-SOS preceded ABA.

A great deal of emphasis has been placed on socially mediated reinforcement contingencies maintaining problem behavior displayed by individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders and related disabilities. However, there is strong evidence that some problem behavior occurs and maintains in the absence of social reinforcement contingencies. In fact, most repetitive stereotypies appear to be maintained in the absence of social reinforcement. To the extent such behavior is operant, and to the extent it is not socially reinforced, it is maintained by automatic reinforcement. The presenter will review origins and historical usage of the term automatic reinforcement, scientific implications of the concept, and clinical implications for behavioral assessment and treatment. He will also present research from his applied laboratories, including published studies and work in progress.

This session provides basic information related to preventing and managing problem behaviors that are common for many children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Focus will be on practical methods of teaching alternatives to problem behavior and for reducing how often problem behaviors occur. The session will also discuss the importance of the situations which lead to problem behavior and how to alter our interactions with children with ASD to successfully establish willing learners who communicate their needs more effectively.

Stimulus control can be described as a behavioral phenomenon in which certain behaviors can be reliably strengthened in the presence of one set of circumstances and weakened in the absence of those circumstances. A strong conceptual grasp on how stimulus control is established is an important tool for teaching and developing socially adaptive behaviors for individuals with autism and other related disabilities. The initial focus of this presentation will be a tutorial on what stimulus control is, how it works, how it is different from motivational control, and its role in the control over non-verbal and verbal repertoires of behavior. The second half of the talk will cover errorless learning, its history, its importance in the development of socially adaptive behaviors, and some of the research-based procedures that have been shown to be effective in good instructional design.

Description forthcoming

This session overviews the suite of courses available through Autism Navigator/Florida State University and highlights the routines based, parent coaching model of the Early Social Interaction Project. Autism Navigator course enrollment, including Pennsylvania’s EITA sponsored enrollment, will be described. Resources for families will be highlighted. The Early Intervention Providers course (modeled on the Early Social Interaction Project through FSU) will be demonstrated and key concepts of intervention (such as using everyday routines as learning opportunities) will be discussed. This is a practical applications session highlighting evidence based supports that are compatible with Early Intervention service systems.

This presentation will cover implications for early language instruction. Language development and instruction will be classified and clarified as an instrumental component to reading instruction. This session will address the importance of building reading fluency and comprehension.

Health and safety skills are important targets in many programs. One way of developing cooperation in these programs is to present task-related stimuli in a hierarchy and gradually introduce these stimuli. Several examples of this will be presented. Sensory integration is an element in many approaches. This presentation will discuss the potential behavioral functions of sensory integration, and furthermore, discuss the implications for intervention. Finally, behavioral views of self-control, and research studies thereof, will be presented. Implications of these views for treatment will be discussed.

As the population of students with autism grows, there is an increasing need to address the unique needs for the group transitioning to college (and the world of work.) PDE and PASSHE are collaborating on the AACHIEVE program, an Autism College and High School collaboration for Innovation, Education and Vocational Excellence. A panel will discuss the four new programs at PASSHE campuses and the transition programing at the school districts beginning in ninth grade. Effective practices for transition planning, strategies, and information for students on the high end of the spectrum will be explored.

The presentation will focus on setting up programming for independent work in an autistic support classroom. Information will include assessing for known close ended tasks, teaching new tasks, collecting data using task analyses, and using chaining procedures to teach the process of “doing your work” from gathering materials through calling for a supervisor’s approval. Some time will also be spent on examples which highlight fading prompts and proximity and challenges one might face.

Schools in Pennsylvania are working to increase the graduation rate and decrease the dropout rate for students with disabilities by utilizing a State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP). Participants will study the phases for identifying students with disabilities who are off-track for graduation. The five phases include: 1) establishing a local leadership team and an Early Warning System (EWS), 2) analyzing attendance, behavior, and course performance data, 3) identifying target areas for interventions for students who are off-track, 4) developing an action plan, and 5) implementing and monitoring an evaluation plan.

This presentation will describe the key components of a successful autism support classroom and early intervention program within a rural setting. The presentation will highlight the positive outcomes achieved by the team at the St. Mary’s Area School District and Seneca Highlands IU 9 early intervention program. The presenters will review team work and application of processes implemented by the district in collaboration with the PaTTAN Autism Initiative. These two classrooms, one led by Mrs. Vollmer and Mrs. Leuschel and the other led by Mrs. Drabert, Mrs. Sauers, and Mr. Sutter, have been recognized as  model sites in the rural community of northwestern Pennsylvania. Researched-based strategies and techniques successfully implemented in the classroom will be reviewed.

Description forthcoming

Conversation is a complex aspect of social behavior and is especially difficult for most persons with autism. The DSM-5’s main criterion for the diagnosis of autism consists of “Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction.” The DSM-5 goes on to exemplify this criteria with the “failure of normal back-and-forth conversation.” But what constitutes a “normal” conversation? A behavioral analysis will suggest it involves verbal behavior, listener behavior, motivation, social behavior, multiple control, conditional discriminations, and a host of other variables. Identifying these variables is essential for the assessment and treatment of impaired or absent conversational skills. Following an analysis of conversational behavior, suggestions will be provided as to how to assess conversational behavior, including supporting social behaviors, and develop appropriate intervention programs.

Description forthcoming

A token economy is a complex system of reinforcement in which conditioned reinforcement in the form of token presentation or removal occurs contingent upon a target behavior (or behaviors). Tokens are then exchanged, once specific environmental conditions are met (e.g., the passage of a pre-determined amount of time), for access to already established reinforcers (i.e., back-up reinforcers). Although there are many possible procedural variations, a token economy contains these basic mechanics. The complexity of this operant technology is derived from the interconnected components that are inherent in all token economies. Although the token economy is widely disseminated and well-established, there are few sources that provide practitioners and researchers with guidelines as to the development of a token economy. Further, as much of the development in the conceptualization of a token economy has occurred in basic research, Applied Behavior Analysts are often unfamiliar with these findings, which are relevant to applied work. In this workshop, attendees will learn to identify the six inherent components of a token economy, develop and maintain a token economy, and program for common token economy procedural variations. Finally, recent research – both basic and applied – will be discussed, with a focus on implication for applied work.

Foundational numeracy concepts are taken for granted in education. It is often assumed that students will possess certain skills before they even begin formal education in mathematics. This assumption can create gaps in learning and lead to remediation, instead of altering the original instructional sequence to be more coherent. Students with Autism often have delays in language acquisition, which leads to delayed instruction in mathematics. This delay in mathematics learning present educators with a unique opportunity to redefine how we think about early numeracy concepts and design more coherent sequences in mathematics curricula.

Objectives

1. Participants will organize the principles of counting into a logical order.
2. Participants will identify prerequisite skills for early topics in mathematics.
3. Participants will replicate instructional practices that promote early numeracy skills and concepts. 

This session will examine the importance of teaching activities of daily living (ADL) to individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities. It will also review three research-based methodologies for teaching activities of daily living.

This session will also review procedures for teaching functional skills in the classroom setting using the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis. Presenters will cover topics including; developing a task analysis, chaining procedures vs. whole task presentation, and how to specifically train and teach relevant independent skills such as hand washing, toilet training, other self-help skills, independent work, and job related tasks using data-based decision making and analysis. Case studies of school aged students range in age from ninth to twelfth grade. The presentation will include the assessment process, teaching procedures, how to train staff, treatment fidelity, video samples, and data systems and graphing. Examples of communication between home and school and how to keep this aligned and consistent are detailed. 

Finally, this session will take a look at language as a functional skill. Presenters will discuss how students at different skill levels can be taught to speak about activities of daily living so that they can solve problems such as asking for what they need, directing others involved in such activities, and describing their activities to others.

Research on the use of Skinner’s (1957) conceptualization of verbal behavior to teach language and communication skills to individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is published with increasing frequency. This research appears in many different journals, making it cumbersome for practitioners to follow and stay up to date with the literature. The purpose of this presentation is to summarize and synthesize information from recently published research in this area. A brief introduction to general trends in verbal behavior research will be followed by a comprehensive summary of recently published (within the last two years) studies that cover procedures for teaching mands, tacts, intraverbals, and complex verbal operants to individuals with ASD. Specific themes that emerge from these studies will be discussed, focusing on implications for practice.

In this presentation we will review the concepts of multiple control, intraverbal control, and recall. For each topic to be addressed, we will first provide a conceptual analysis, and, consequently, illustrate how that analysis can be translated into applied procedures to establish flexible and contextually appropriate verbal behavior in children with autism. We will explore the following conceptual distinctions in both theory and practice: (A) divergent and convergent multiple control; (B) the intraverbal as an elementary operant and intraverbal control as a pervasive variable in the control of autoclitic frames; (C) recall as the endurance of stimulus control and recall as novel problem solving. We will demonstrate the generality of the analyses presented by showing applied examples from children in both Italy and the United Kingdom. In so doing, we will offer a conceptual and applied framework within which to sequence language objectives and that participants can directly adopt or modify for use in their own clinical practice.

Conversation is a complex aspect of social behavior and is especially difficult for most persons with autism. The DSM-5’s main criterion for the diagnosis of autism consists of “Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction.” The DSM-5 goes on to exemplify this criteria with the “failure of normal back-and-forth conversation.” But what constitutes a “normal” conversation? A behavioral analysis will suggest it involves verbal behavior, listener behavior, motivation, social behavior, multiple control, conditional discriminations, and a host of other variables. Identifying these variables is essential for the assessment and treatment of impaired or absent conversational skills. Following an analysis of conversational behavior, suggestions will be provided as to how to assess conversational behavior, including supporting social behaviors, and develop appropriate intervention programs.

Description forthcoming

A token economy is a complex system of reinforcement in which conditioned reinforcement in the form of token presentation or removal occurs contingent upon a target behavior (or behaviors). Tokens are then exchanged, once specific environmental conditions are met (e.g., the passage of a pre-determined amount of time), for access to already established reinforcers (i.e., back-up reinforcers). Although there are many possible procedural variations, a token economy contains these basic mechanics. The complexity of this operant technology is derived from the interconnected components that are inherent in all token economies. Although the token economy is widely disseminated and well-established, there are few sources that provide practitioners and researchers with guidelines as to the development of a token economy. Further, as much of the development in the conceptualization of a token economy has occurred in basic research, Applied Behavior Analysts are often unfamiliar with these findings, which are relevant to applied work. In this workshop, attendees will learn to identify the six inherent components of a token economy, develop and maintain a token economy, and program for common token economy procedural variations. Finally, recent research – both basic and applied – will be discussed, with a focus on implication for applied work.

Foundational numeracy concepts are taken for granted in education. It is often assumed that students will possess certain skills before they even begin formal education in mathematics. This assumption can create gaps in learning and lead to remediation, instead of altering the original instructional sequence to be more coherent. Students with Autism often have delays in language acquisition, which leads to delayed instruction in mathematics. This delay in mathematics learning present educators with a unique opportunity to redefine how we think about early numeracy concepts and design more coherent sequences in mathematics curricula.

Objectives

1. Participants will organize the principles of counting into a logical order.
2. Participants will identify prerequisite skills for early topics in mathematics.
3. Participants will replicate instructional practices that promote early numeracy skills and concepts. 
 

Description forthcoming

This session will examine the importance of teaching activities of daily living (ADL) to individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities. It will also review three research-based methodologies for teaching activities of daily living.

This session will also review procedures for teaching functional skills in the classroom setting using the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis. Presenters will cover topics including; developing a task analysis, chaining procedures vs. whole task presentation, and how to specifically train and teach relevant independent skills such as hand washing, toilet training, other self-help skills, independent work and job related tasks using data based decision making and analysis. Case study samples of school aged students range in age from ninth to twelfth grade. The presentation will include the assessment process, teaching procedures, how to train staff, treatment fidelity, video samples, and data systems and graphing. Examples of communication between home and school and how to keep this aligned and consistent are detailed.  Finally, this session will take a look at language as a functional skill. Presenters will discuss how students at different skill levels can be taught to speak about activities of daily living so that they can solve problems such as asking for what they need, directing others involved in such activities, and describing their activities to others.

Quality supervision of future behavior analysts and employees should be a priority for all leaders. Lack of quality supervision leaves our field is at serious risk of credibility. This session focuses on how to apply the science to supervision. Elements covered will include assessments of supervisee skills sets, developing a supervision plan, monitoring supervisee performance, balancing literature with hands on experience, and developing curricular programs to meet supervisee needs.

Effective parent communication and training is critical in the successful collaboration between home and school in order to best meet the educational needs of all students. Covering a variety of aspects of parent communication and training, including but not limited to, evidence-based practices, actual classroom application, and examples to span the school year, as well as working collaboratively with families for optimal outcomes, this presentation will offer an in-depth approach to a critical topic in autism support classrooms.

Research on the use of Skinner’s (1957) conceptualization of verbal behavior to teach language and communication skills to individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is published with increasing frequency. This research appears in many different journals, making it cumbersome for practitioners to follow and stay up to date with the literature. The purpose of this presentation is to summarize and synthesize information from recently published research in this area. A brief introduction to general trends in verbal behavior research will be followed by a comprehensive summary of recently published (within the last two years) studies that cover procedures for teaching mands, tacts, intraverbals, and complex verbal operants to individuals with ASD. Specific themes that emerge from these studies will be discussed, focusing on implications for practice.