An apparatus and procedure for studying discounting of real outcomes of money and aversive sound.

We developed and examined a laboratory preparation with adult humans that pits shorter term avoidance over longer term positive reinforcement and may serve as a useful laboratory functional analogue of problematic behavior. Participants were exposed to choices between (1) avoiding an aversive sound and acquiring no money or (2) listening to an aversive sound for a set duration and then receiving money. The first choice, avoiding an aversive sound and acquiring no money, was conceptualized as immediate negative reinforcement and no positive reinforcement, whereas the latter choice, listening to an aversive sound for a set duration and then receiving money, was conceptualized as a potential positive punisher paired with a larger later positive reinforcer. We manipulated the duration of the sound and the magnitude of money to identify the point at which individual participants' choices changed from avoiding the sound to choosing the sound plus money. As the sound duration increased, the choice of listening to the sound and receiving money decreased. Similar functions were observed with two different monetary magnitudes. The model has potential applicability to real-world problems such as smoking, addiction, gambling, anxiety disorders, and other impulse control disorders.

Compassion in Autism Services: A Preliminary Framework for Applied Behavior Analysis.

Many have suggested that a compassion-focused approach to applied behavior analysis (ABA) services may improve provider-client therapeutic relationships and has the potential to improve program acceptability and clinical outcomes experienced by our clients. In this article, radical compassion is defined and explored as a foundational approach to the implementation of ABA, with special emphasis on practical applications in the area of service delivery for families living with autism. In this framework for care, compassion is offered as a measurable repertoire and as a philosophical guidepost for future developments in the profession. This article explores preliminary tenets of compassion-focused ABA and their implications for practice. This approach is offered in the hope of moving the field toward a future of improved acceptability and sustainable consumer preference.

Teaching Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Desire-Based Emotion Prediction and Cause.

This study aimed to expand current research in one area of perspective taking related to teaching children with autism spectrum disorder to predict others' emotions. The current study evaluated a behavioral teaching procedure on predicting and inferring the cause of emotions based on another's desires. The procedure included a training package including multiple-exemplar training, rules, modeling, prompting, and reinforcement across scenarios in which children with autism were asked to predict how others may feel given a met or unmet desire or nondesire. Three children with autism, who did not already demonstrate this skill at baseline, were included in the study and learned a repertoire of emotion prediction and cause that generalized to untrained novel scenarios. Generalization to situations in which it was necessary to apply information about another's desires during play activities was not observed until direct in-vivo training was implemented. Future directions and implications of this research are discussed.

The Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Therapy Utilization Among Racially/Ethnically and Socio-Economically Diverse Autistic Children.

PURPOSE: The purpose of current study was to evaluate change in hours of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy utilization for autistic children during the year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first three months of the pandemic (crisis phase), and the following 9 months of the pandemic (mitigation phase). Additionally, this study aimed to evaluate if change in therapy utilization differed based on child race, ethnicity, and primary payer of services. Finally, we aimed to identify potential mechanisms of ABA therapy disruption by interpreting findings using an extended version of Donabedian's structure-process-outcome model. METHODS: Retrospective clinical data on client demographics and therapy utilization (n = 283) were collected from ABA clinics in California and analyzed with four piecewise growth multi-level models. RESULTS: We found that therapy utilization dropped during the first three months of the pandemic (-10.65 h/month; p < .001) and increased during the following 9 months (2.39 h/month; p < .001). Moderator analyses revelated that Asian, Non-Latinx and school-district funded children had significantly different trajectories of change in therapy utilization compared to white, non-Latinx participants and private insurance funded participants, respectively. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that utilization of ABA therapy was disrupted for a full year following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and that child race/ethnicity and primary payer influenced the degree to which autistic children were impacted by service disruption. These findings have implications for autistic children who lost therapy access during key developmental periods and for the ABA care delivery system.

Assessing the Feasibility of Peer Coach Training for Disruptive Middle School Youth: A Mixed Methods Pilot Study.

In U.S. schools, disruptive behavior is by far the primary reason for disciplinary referrals, including suspensions and expulsions. School-based interventions targeting disruptive behavior usually position struggling youth as treatment recipients and neglect the psychosocial benefits of helping others. In this mixed methods pilot study, we evaluate the preliminary feasibility and acceptability of Peer Coach Training (PCT), a novel, school-based intervention for youth referred for disruptive behavior that deemphasizes the youth's existing problems and focuses instead on training youth to help their peers. We used quantitative and qualitative methods to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of PCT on two cohorts of disruptive youth (N = 9) in an urban middle school in Southern California. Youth and teachers completed assessments at baseline, post-treatment, and three-month follow-up. At posttreatment and follow-up, youth reported significant reductions in externalizing problems, as well as reductions in conduct problems, attention problems, and aggressive behavior; in contrast, teacher ratings yielded null findings. Qualitative interviews revealed that youth and teachers observed positive changes in peer interactions, self-confidence, and classroom participation efforts. Youth satisfaction data indicated that youth enjoyed participating in PCT and would highly recommend it to their friends. Results from this pilot evaluation suggest that training youth to help their peers is an appealing, feasible, and promising strategy for reducing disruptive behavior, however, controlled trials are needed to provide evidence for treatment efficacy.

Leading the Charge: A Look Inside the Behavior Analysis in Practice Emergency Series of Publications on Systemic Racism and Police Brutality.

This article introduces the "Behavior Analysis in Practice Emergency Series of Publications on Systemic Racism and Police Brutality." After the murder of George Floyd, the behavior analytic community was charged to respond in the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King's challenge to social scientists. The charge of Dr. King was to explain real life phenomena negatively affecting the Black community. This series covered a wide range of topics with the intent of creating solutions that may be used to address remnants of the overarching impact of systemic racism and anti-Blackness. In this editorial, we provide an overview of the major themes of the accepted articles, some personal accounts of the editorial team, context for the special issue, discuss the contributions of the included articles, and a discussion of the areas in need of further work.

Acceptance and Commitment Training Within the Scope of Practice of Applied Behavior Analysis.

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a contemporary behavior-analytic approach to intervening on verbal behavior for the purposes of bringing about socially meaningful overt behavior change. Although originally developed as a behavior-analytic approach to psychotherapy, the conceptual functional analyses and procedures that form the core of ACT have been disseminated broadly outside of clinical psychology, including within the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA). This article discusses the use of ACT within mainstream ABA practice and provides preliminary conceptual functional analyses and practical guidelines for incorporating ACT within the scope of practice of applied behavior analysts.

Teaching Individuals with Autism Problem-Solving Skills for Resolving Social Conflicts.

Resolving social conflicts is a complex skill that involves consideration of the group when selecting conflict solutions. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have difficulty resolving social conflicts, yet this skill is important for successful social interaction, maintenance of relationships, and functional integration into society. This study used a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across participants design to assess the efficacy of a problem-solving training and generalization of problem solving to naturally occurring untrained social conflicts. Three male participants with ASD were taught to use a worksheet as a problem-solving tool using multiple exemplar training, error correction, rules, and reinforcement. The results showed that using the worksheet was successful in bringing about a solution to social conflicts occurring in the natural environment. In addition, the results showed that participants resolved untrained social conflicts in the absence of the worksheet during natural environment probe sessions.

A Systematic Replication of Teaching Children With Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities Correct Responding to False-Belief Tasks.

Behavioral research has demonstrated that children with autism spectrum disorder can be taught to recognize the false beliefs of others using video modeling (e.g., Charlop-Christy & Daneshvar Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 5(1), 12-21, 2003; LeBlanc et al. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 36(2), 253-257, 2003). The current study extended such research by teaching three children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities to respond appropriately to false-belief tasks using behavioral intervention strategies conducted in the natural environment with people in their enviornment. We used a nonconcurrent multiple-baseline across-participants design to evaluate the use of multiple-exemplar training, prompting, and reinforcement for training correct responses with two false-belief tasks: the hide-and-seek task and the M&Ms task. We also conducted a pre/posttest of an untrained false-belief task, the Sally-Anne task. All participants learned to pass the hide-and-seek task and the M&Ms task and improved on their performance on the Sally-Anne task during the posttest.

The role of eye contact in young children's judgments of others' visibility: A comparison of preschoolers with and without autism spectrum disorder.

Typically-developing (TD) children under age 5 often deny that they can see a person whose eyes are covered (e.g., Moll & Khalulyan, 2017). This has been interpreted as a manifestation of their preference for reciprocal interactions. We investigated how 3- to 4-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD, n = 12) respond in this situation. Because a lack of interpersonal connectedness and reciprocal communication are core features of this disorder, we predicted that young children with ASD will not make mutual regard a condition for seeing another person and therefore acknowledge being able to see her. Against this prediction, children with ASD gave the same negative answers as a group of TD (n = 36) age-mates. Various interpretations are discussed, including the possibility that some children with ASD are capable of relating to others as second persons.

Taking ACTion: 18 Simple Strategies for Supporting Children With Autism During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically uprooted the lives of families around the world. Families living with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be particularly affected due to being abruptly deprived of their usual in-person support from applied behavior analysis (ABA) service providers. This article gives how-to instructions on 18 simple acceptance and commitment training (ACT) programs that can be used as supplements to ongoing ABA services to support children with ASD whose verbal repertoires may play a part in the challenges they are facing during the current crisis. We describe several challenges that have been frequently reported by families and ABA practitioners during the pandemic. For each behavioral challenge, we provide a brief practical description, brief behavioral conceptual description, and how-to guidance on implementing ACT procedures that address each behavioral challenge at a functional level. The Appendix contains child-friendly worksheets for practitioners to use as visual supports while implementing the intervention procedures.

Increasing Vocalizations and Echoics in Infants at Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Infant siblings of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis (i.e., infants at risk of ASD) are excellent candidates for early interventions based on the principles of applied behavior analysis. This study replicates and extends behavioral research using contingent social reinforcement procedures (i.e., vocal imitation and motherese speech) to increase both vocalizations and echoics among 3 infants at risk of ASD with their mothers in the natural environment. Results confirmed earlier findings that contingent reinforcement, specifically vocal imitation, reliably produces high rates of vocalizations, echoic approximations, and emerging pure echoic repertoires in at risk infants.

The importance of multiple exemplar instruction in the establishment of novel verbal behavior.

According to traditional linguistic accounts language, and its generative nature, cannot be taught. From a behavior analytic perspective, language is like any other behavior; it is learned and amenable to change. Based upon Skinner's radical behavioral analysis of verbal behavior, specific procedures have been designed to promote novel verbal relations. However, despite the strength and utility of this approach, using behavioral principles to understand the generativity of language has been challenging. Dependent upon the specific theory (e.g., stimulus equivalence, relational frame theory, bidirectional naming) within the radical behavioral orientation, researchers arrange unique procedures to evaluate the variables responsible for this phenomenon. This paper presents the commonalities and differences of two procedures (i.e., multiple exemplar training, multiple exemplar instruction) with examples of research highlighting the use of both in producing generativity. Further, it describes how multiple exemplar instruction is independent from other procedures leading to this outcome, and concludes by providing recommendations for both research and practice.

Beyond a Call to Action: An Introduction to the Special Issue on Diversity and Equity in the Practice of Behavior Analysis.

In this editorial, we provide commentary on the state of diversity and equity in the practice of behavior analysis. We describe themes from this special issue and call upon members of the field of applied behavior analysis to live a values-driven life that involves the systematic and data-driven practice of diversity and equity each and every day.

Multilingual Diversity in the Field of Applied Behavior Analysis and Autism: A Brief Review and Discussion of Future Directions.

This review addresses multilingual diversity within the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) as it relates to treatment for autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The United States was founded as a diverse, multicultural "melting pot" and migration patterns continue to increase cultural and linguistic diversity, making it increasingly important to address these issues within the field of ABA. The role of multilingualism in ABA treatment for autism has scarcely been addressed in practice or in research and yet these factors likely impact the ABA treatment process significantly. The purpose of this review is to discuss how multilingualism might be better addressed within the field of ABA. We briefly review the very small amount of existing research on multilingual approaches when using ABA and discuss directions for future research. In addition, we discuss potential future directions for the field, in terms of increasing the number of international students in graduate programs, enhancing diversity curricula within graduate programs and continuing education, and efforts by professional organizations to address diversity.

Teaching children with autism to identify and respond appropriately to the preferences of others during play.

We observed three children with autism spectrum disorder during structured play dates in which play partners displayed interest or disinterest in the toys with which they were playing. We then taught subjects to identify play partners' preferences and to make appropriate toy offers using a multiple-exemplar training package consisting of rules, midplay preference questions, prompting, and praise with observed generalization across untrained partners.

Teaching children with autism to respond to disguised mands.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have difficulty inferring the private events of others, including private verbal behavior (e.g., thoughts), private emotional responses, and private establishing operations, often referred to as "perspective taking" by the general psychology community. Children with ASD also have difficulty responding to disguised mands. Skinner's description of the "disguised mand" is verbal behavior wherein the speaker's mand directly describes neither its reinforcer nor the corresponding establishing operations. Appropriate responding to disguised mands is required for successful social interaction, making it a social skill worth teaching to children with ASD. We used a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across participants design to investigate the effects of a multiple exemplar training package consisting of rules, role play, and feedback for teaching three boys with ASD to respond to disguised mands. The intervention was effective and generalization to novel disguised mands and people was observed.

Intensity and Learning Outcomes in the Treatment of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Ample research has shown that intensive applied behavior analysis (ABA) treatment produces robust outcomes for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD); however, little is known about the relationship between treatment intensity and treatment outcomes. The current study was designed to evaluate this relationship. Participants included 726 children, ages 1.5 to 12 years old, receiving community-based behavioral intervention services. Results indicated a strong relationship between treatment intensity and mastery of learning objectives, where higher treatment intensity predicted greater progress. Specifically, 35% of the variance in mastery of learning objectives was accounted for by treatment hours using standard linear regression, and 60% of variance was accounted for using artificial neural networks. These results add to the existing support for higher intensity treatment for children with ASD.

Teaching children with autism to tell socially appropriate lies.

This study used a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across participants design to evaluate the use of rules, role-play, and feedback for teaching 3 children with autism spectrum disorder to tell socially appropriate lies when (a) presented with an undesired gift and (b) someone's appearance changed in an undesired way. The intervention was effective in teaching use of socially appropriate lies, and generalization to untrained people and gifts or appearances was observed.

Teaching Children with Autism to Follow Rules Specifying a Behavior and Consequence.

Rule-governed behavior (RGB) results from contact with a verbal description of a contingency as opposed to prior contact with that contingency. Despite its importance, research on the establishment of RGB with learners who do not display the skill is limited. Tarbox, Zuckerman, Bishop, Olive, and O'Hora (The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 27, 125-139, 2011) used multiple-exemplar training (MET) to teach children with autism spectrum disorder to follow rules specifying an antecedent and a behavior. We conducted a systematic replication of the Tarbox et al. study with three boys diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and extended those methods to rules specifying a behavior and either a preferred or nonpreferred consequence (e.g., "If you clap, then you get candy"). In baseline, participants typically followed a given instruction regardless of whether the consequence was preferred or nonpreferred. Following MET, all participants responded accurately to novel rules, indicating that MET may be an effective method to establish basic RGB repertoires.