The Performance Diagnostic Checklist-Human Services (1.1): An initial assessment of validity and reliability.

The Performance Diagnostic Checklist-Human Services (PDC-HS) is an assessment used to identify variables contributing to staff performance concerns in human-service settings. In the current study, we introduce and assess the test validity, interrater reliability, and test-retest reliability of the PDC-HS (1.1), a revised version of the assessment that included revised instructions, questions, and intervention planning references. We measured the psychometric properties of the revised assessment by analyzing answers obtained from watching video vignettes of simulated interviews between consultants and a supervisor. Twenty-one participants watched the vignettes and completed the PDC-HS (1.1) based on the answers provided during the interview. We also included an item analysis to identify questions on which participants made errors and an intervention selection task to assess whether participants selected an appropriate intervention to target the indicated domain. The results support the use of the PDC-HS (1.1) in human services settings.

The Performance Diagnostic Checklist - Human Services: Guidance for Assessment Administration.

The Performance Diagnostic Checklist - Human Services (PDC-HS) is an assessment designed to assess the environmental variables contributing to employee performance concerns in human-service settings. Recent research has demonstrated that interventions indicated by the PDC-HS result in improved employee performance across several human-service settings and that the assessment has acceptable reliability and validity. Although PDC-HS-indicated interventions have been effective at increasing employee performance, there is a need for additional guidance when using the assessment given the limited nature of the original administration guidelines. Thus, the purpose of the current manuscript is to introduce additional guidance for use of the PDC-HS across a variety of situations.

Generality of Findings From Single-Case Designs: It's Not All About the "N".

There is a common misconception in applied research that generalizations from a study to a specific client can only be made with a large sample size. In single-case design research, however, generalizations are made from a line of replication studies rather than from a single large-N study. In this brief tutorial, we summarize how generalizations are made from single-case design research, and provide a model elevator speech to assist behavior analysts in talking about single-case design research with others.

On the BACB's Ethics Requirements: A Response to Rosenberg and Schwartz (2019).

Rosenberg and Schwartz (Behavior Analysis in Practice, 12, 473-482, 2019) criticize a number of aspects of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board's Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts and propose, as an alternative, a decision-making process for evaluating the ethicality of behavior under a particular set of circumstances. We respond to the authors' main criticisms and discuss the broader professional and legal context of any profession's ethics code and enforcement activity.

Teaching children with autism spectrum disorder to tact auditory stimuli.

Studies on teaching tacts to individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have primarily focused on visual stimuli, despite published clinical recommendations to teach tacts of stimuli in other sensory domains as well. In the current study, two children with ASD were taught to tact auditory stimuli under two stimulus-presentation arrangements: isolated (auditory stimuli presented without visual cues) and compound (auditory stimuli presented with visual cues). Results indicate that compound stimulus presentation was a more effective teaching procedure, but that it interfered with prior object-name tacts. A modified compound arrangement in which object-name tact trials were interspersed with auditory-stimulus trials mitigated this interference.

The effects of different mastery criteria on the skill maintenance of children with developmental disabilities.

The acquisition of skills by individuals with developmental disabilities typically includes the attainment of a certain mastery criterion. We conducted a survey of practitioners who indicated the most commonly used mastery criterion as 80% accuracy across three consecutive sessions. Based on these results, we conducted a series of three experiments to evaluate the relation between mastery criterion and subsequent skill maintenance with 4 individuals with various developmental disabilities. Results suggest that 80% accuracy across three consecutive sessions may be insufficient for producing maintenance in some cases.

Assessing preferences of individuals with developmental disabilities using alternative stimulus modalities: A systematic review.

The purpose of this systematic review was to identify investigations comparing the efficacy of alternative modality (e.g., pictorial, verbal, video) stimulus preference assessments for individuals with developmental disabilities. We identified articles by searching peer-reviewed journals using the PsycINFO and ERIC databases, conducting table of contents searches of common behavioral outlets, and conducting ancestral searches of recent reviews and practitioner summaries of preference assessment methodology. A total of 32 articles met our inclusion criteria. These studies were then coded across a variety of features to gain a better understanding of the efficacy of alternative format preference assessments for individuals with developmental disabilities. In addition, we reviewed this literature for the use of prerequisite-skill assessments and contingent-reinforcer access to further investigate the relation between these variables and the accuracy of pictorial, verbal, and video preference assessments. A variety of methodological concerns are discussed as well as suggestions for future research.

Applying the Taxonomy of Validity Threats from Mainstream Research Design to Single-Case Experiments in Applied Behavior Analysis.

Mainstream research design in the social and behavioral sciences has often been conceptualized using a taxonomy of threats to experimental validity first articulated by Campbell and his colleagues (Campbell & Stanley, 1966; Cook & Campbell, 1979). The most recent update of this framework was published by Shadish, Cook, and Campbell (2002), in which the authors describe different types of validity and numerous threats to each primarily in terms of group-design experiments. In the present article, we apply Shadish et al.'s analysis of threats to internal, external, statistical conclusion, and construct validity to single-case experimental research as it is typically conducted in applied behavior analysis. In doing so, we hope to provide researchers and educators in the field with a translation of the validity-threats taxonomy into terms and considerations relevant to the design and interpretation of applied behavior-analytic research for the purposes of more careful research design and the ability to communicate our designs to individuals outside of behavior analysis, using their own vocabulary.

Frequently Assigned Readings in Behavior Analysis Graduate Training Programs.

Demand for behavior-analytic services has greatly increased in recent years, resulting in the development of many new graduate training programs. The purpose of the present study was to identify frequently assigned readings from the course syllabi of behavior-analytic training programs with the highest pass rates on the Board Certified Behavior Analyst® (BCBA®) examination. The readings are categorized by curriculum area (e.g., ethics, behaviorism, single-subject research methodology) to provide a resource for new program development and language translation efforts.

Live training versus e-learning to teach implementation of listener response programs.

Discrete-trial teaching is an effective teaching procedure that must be implemented with high integrity to produce optimal learning. Behavioral Skills Training (BST) has proven effective for staff training; however, BST is time and labor intensive. Computer-based instruction (CBI) programs may provide a more efficient and cost-effective alternative to live training if the CBI program is as effective as BST in producing accurate implementation. The current study compared CBI to BST to train novice undergraduate students to conduct discrete-trial teaching. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions and assessed prior to and after the completion of training. Results indicated that although both BST and CBI were effective at training participants to implement discrete-trial teaching, BST was slightly but significantly more effective whereas CBI quickly created a return on the investment of product development.

On the use of the term 'frequency' in applied behavior analysis.

There exists a terminological problem in applied behavior analysis: the term frequency has been used as a synonym for both rate (the number of responses per time) and count (the number of responses). To guide decisions about the use and meaning of frequency, we surveyed the usage of frequency in contemporary behavior-analytic journals and textbooks and found that the predominant usage of frequency was as count, not rate. Thus, we encourage behavior analysts to use frequency as a synonym for count.

A History of the Professional Credentialing of Applied Behavior Analysts.

The need for a credible professional credential became apparent early in the history of applied behavior analysis. The first efforts to develop a system that identified behavior-analytic practitioners having a specified level of expertise in the profession began in the early 1970s. Over the years, a number of credentialing initiatives were developed in an effort to meet the profession's growing needs for a means of establishing a meaningful professional identity. This article reviews the evolution of these initiatives, culminating with the Behavior Analyst Certification Board and the more recent movement toward state licensure.

The Performance Diagnostic Checklist-Human Services: a Correction.

The Performance Diagnostic Checklist (PDC) has been used in a number of investigations to assess the environmental determinants of substandard employee performance. Carr et al. (2013) revised the PDC to explicitly assess the performance of employees in human-service settings who are responsible for providing care to others: the Performance Diagnostic Checklist-Human Services (PDC-HS). The originally published PDC-HS contained three minor scoring errors, which have been corrected in the present version.

A Proposed Model for Selecting Measurement Procedures for the Assessment and Treatment of Problem Behavior.

Practicing behavior analysts frequently assess and treat problem behavior as part of their ongoing job responsibilities. Effective measurement of problem behavior is critical to success in these activities because some measures of problem behavior provide more accurate and complete information about the behavior than others. However, not every measurement procedure is appropriate for every problem behavior and therapeutic circumstance. We summarize the most commonly used measurement procedures, describe the contexts for which they are most appropriate, and propose a clinical decision-making model for selecting measurement produces given certain features of the behavior and constraints of the therapeutic environment.

Assessing the efficacy of pictorial preference assessments for children with developmental disabilities.

Past research has demonstrated that pictorial preference assessments can predict subsequent reinforcement effects for individuals with developmental disabilities only when access to the selected stimulus is provided contingent on a pictorial selection. The purpose of the present investigation was to assess more comprehensively the feasibility of the pictorial format with children with developmental disabilities. In Experiment 1, prerequisite skill assessments were conducted, and the role of a contingent reinforcer was assessed by comparing the results from the pictorial assessment without contingent access to a reinforcer assessment. If contingent access was found to be necessary, the effects of schedule thinning were evaluated to determine whether a pictorial format could be made more practical in Experiment 2. The pictorial format without contingent access was successful with only some participants. However, schedule thinning was found to be an effective method to establish conditioned reinforcement properties for pictorial stimuli to create a more practical assessment for a subset of participants.

International publication trends in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis: 2000-2014.

Dymond, Clarke, Dunlap, and Steiner's (2000) analysis of international publication trends in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) from 1970 to 1999 revealed low numbers of publications from outside North America, leading the authors to express concern about the lack of international involvement in applied behavior analysis. They suggested that a future review would be necessary to evaluate any changes in international authorship in the journal. As a follow-up, we analyzed non-U.S. publication trends in the most recent 15 years of JABA and found similar results. We discuss potential reasons for the relative paucity of international authors and suggest potential strategies for increasing non-U.S. contributions to the advancement of behavior analysis.