Journal of applied behavior analysis最新文献

The literature offers few recommendations for sequencing exposure to treatment conditions with individuals with multiply maintained destructive behavior. Identifying relative preference for the functional reinforcers maintaining destructive behavior may be one means of guiding that decision. The present study presents a preliminary attempt at developing a robust relative preference and reinforcer assessment for individuals with multiply maintained destructive behavior. Guided and free-choice trials were implemented in which participants chose between two multiple-schedule arrangements, each of which programmed signaled periods of isolated reinforcer availability and unavailability. Consistent participant choice and responding during free-choice trials was then used to thin the corresponding schedule of reinforcement. The results demonstrated a strong preference for one of the two functional reinforcers for all four participants, yet preferences differed across participants and were not well predicted by responding in prior analyses.

On October 7, 2023, the behavior analysis community lost one of its giants. Dr. Brian Iwata passed peacefully in his home surrounded by family. The world became a lesser place, but what it lost had been prepaid many times over by his immense and lasting influence.

The final few weeks of Brian's life were filled with planning, visiting, organizing, and reminiscing. Brian was as intellectually clear as ever, but his ability to speak was reduced and slower. Over those weeks, many of his family members and former students came to visit. He scheduled and spent time with individual local visitors. On one weekend, about 20 of his former students all came to the house and mingled while taking turns sharing time with Brian. To all, he shared thoughts and emotional memories. He shared manuscripts, graphs, and other items. For example, on one visit he asked Tim to prepare a eulogy and he shared the original type-written manuscript and reviews of Toward a Functional Analysis of Self-Injury. Through tears, Tim agreed to prepare a eulogy, and he clutched the folder of the manuscript tightly.

Following his passing, a large group of students, family, friends, and colleagues gathered at his house on October 26, 2023, to grieve together and to celebrate Brian's life on the day before his funeral. Among those attending were his mentor Jon Bailey, long-time colleague Marc Branch, students from as far back as the 1970s (e.g., Terry Page and Mary Riordan), and many others. The funeral was held on the next day, October 27. Subsequent gatherings took place at a postfuneral reception hosted by Brian's family and a gathering of former graduate students and colleagues at a local establishment that evening. Our love and admiration for Brian was readily revealed in our collective unwillingness to separate at this landmark point in our lives.

Others in this issue of JABA will remark upon Brian's achievements and the profound influence of his work. Our intention is to convey the personal Brian Iwata, a glimpse into what Brian meant to those in his biological and academic families as his student, colleague, and child.

When I first met Brian in July 1982, he had just been elected to the Editorship of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA). I was a new predoctoral intern in the Department of Behavioral Psychology at the John F. Kennedy Institute, now the Kennedy Krieger Institute. My first rotation was in the behavioral inpatient unit at the hospital that Brian directly supervised. The inpatient unit served children with developmental disabilities who had severe behavior disorders such as self-injurious behavior (SIB) and physical aggression. In addition to preparing to assume the JABA editorship and direction of the inpatient unit, Brian was focused on executing a large grant that he had received from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In this tribute to Brian, I would like to offer my perspectives on how Brian's work transformed applied behavior analysis (ABA) and how Brian's leadership at JABA radically changed the journal for the better.

The topic of Brian's NIH grant was the functional assessment of SIB. I know that Brian was influenced significantly by Ted Carr's theoretical paper on the motivation of SIB (Carr, 1977) and Carr's subsequent experimental demonstration that physical aggression could be a function of escape from demands (Carr et al., 1976). Brian's pilot data for the grant consisted of applications of his unique functional analysis methodology that allowed testing of multiple possible functions of SIB in the same assessment. This pilot work was the basis for Brian's seminal and field-transforming article “Toward a Functional Analysis of Self-Injury” (Iwata et al., 1982/1994). This article changed the field of ABA, became the dominant approach to assessment and treatment of behavior disorders across a variety of populations and settings, significantly influenced practices in clinical psychology and special education in general, and became the publication standard for scientific research and grant awards (Mace, 1994). Importantly, as is the tradition in science, numerous variants in functional analysis methodologies evolved to meet specific needs and Brian participated in this process.

How could one paper have such a profound influence? Although this is a question without a definitive answer, a closer look at the context in which Iwata et al. (1982/1994) was published suggests a few answers. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, there was a growing and widespread dissatisfaction with behavior modification. Behavior modification was criticized as being too simplistic, too reliant on default technologies (e.g., various forms of punishment and contrived positive reinforcers), and vulnerable to significant side effects (e.g., Deitz, 1978; Hayes et al., 1980; Iwata, 1988). From my perspective, among the most significant influences of Brian's paper was that it changed the fundamental question that ABA could

Seubert, C, Fryling, MJ, Wallace, MD, Jiminez, AR, Meier, AE. Antecedent interventions for pediatric feeding problems. J Appl Behav Anal. 2014; 47: 449–453. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.117 .

The fourth author's name was incorrectly listed as Agustin R. Jiminez. It should have been Agustin R. Jimenez.

We apologize for this error.

My life changed in the fall of 1970. A few days before the beginning of class, I was in my new office on the 3rd floor of the Florida State University (FSU) Psychology Building, busy unpacking books and trying to get settled in when there was a knock at the partially opened door. A young man in his early 20s pushed the door open and said, “Hi, I'm Brian Iwata. I'm your new student.” I replied, “Welcome, Brian. It's nice to meet you.” Brian followed with, “And what do you do?” Unaware that I was getting a graduate student because the selection process occurred the previous spring while I was still at the University of Kansas (KU), this came as quite a surprise.

Jumping ahead a little, I would have to say that this was the most fortunate thing that could possibly have happened to me. Someone on the admissions committee did me a giant favor that would make an enormous difference in my career. Sadly, I never learned who that was. But, back to the story.

I explained that I was a new assistant professor and that my specialty was behavior analysis, applied behavior analysis to be more specific. We chatted a bit about Brain's trip to Tallahassee from Baltimore. He told me he was newly married and this was a big adventure for him and his wife, Peg, as they had not been to Florida before. I believed that our initial meeting went well the second that Brian gestured to my partly filled bookcase and said, “Do you have anything that I can read? I'd like to learn about this field of yours.” I pulled out my heavily marked-up copy of Science and Human Behavior (Skinner, 1953) and Case Studies in Behavior Modification (Ullman & Krasner, 1965) and gave these to him as good introductions to behaviorism. I explained that these books included important examples of how applied behavior analysis could be used to change behavior. I concluded with pointing to the latest issue of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) sitting on my desk as I said, “And this is going to be the primary journal for our new field. Mont Wolf is the editor. I studied under him.”

Dr. Brian A. Iwata passed away at his home on October 7, 2023, surrounded by his family. He will be remembered as an outstanding researcher and beloved instructor and mentor. He was undisputedly one of the most influential scholars, teachers, and clinicians in behavior analysis since the inception of the field. Dr. Iwata received his PhD in clinical/school psychology from Florida State University, under the mentorship of Dr. Jon Bailey. As the story goes, he selected the school for its location in the beautiful “sunshine state.” Dr. Bailey introduced him to behavior analysis and Skinner after he entered graduate school.

After graduating in 1974, Dr. Iwata accepted a faculty position at Western Michigan University (WMU). Less than 1 year later, he was invited to join the editorial board of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA), the flagship journal in our field. He accepted a faculty position at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the John F. Kennedy Institute (now the Kennedy Krieger Institute) in 1978. That same year, he was selected to be an Associate Editor of JABA. Remarkably, he became editor in chief of JABA just three short years later. Dr. Iwata joined the faculty at the University of Florida (UF) in 1986, where he remained a Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry until his retirement in 2022.

Dr. Iwata's work will continue to endure in large part because of the breadth of its influence. His research on the experimental analysis and treatment of behavior disorders helped to revolutionize our understanding of the learned (operant) functions of severe behavior problems, such as self-injury and aggression, profoundly influencing theory, clinical practice, and public policy (Iwata, Dorsey, et al., 1982/1994; Iwata, Pace, Dorsey, et al., 1994). Dr. Iwata and his colleagues were not the first to propose that problem behavior may be learned (cf. Carr, 1977). However, the development of a simple, effective, and eloquent methodology was necessary to clearly demonstrate that the etiology of any form of problem behavior often can be traced back to its current reinforcement contingencies. Dr. Iwata and his students conducted most of the work on refinements to the functional analysis methodology that has made it more effective in identifying function and more practical for practitioners to use (Beavers et al., 2013; Hanley et al., 2003; Iwata & Dozier, 2008). This methodology opened the door to systematic evaluations of function-based treatments (Iwata & Worsdell, 2005) and made it possible for us to have a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying common treatment procedures, such as extinction (Iwata, Pace, Cowdery, et al., 1994).

Through this research, we developed a deeper understanding of problem behavior and became highly effective in its t

Clinicians report primarily using functional behavioral assessment (FBA) methods that do not include functional analyses. However, studies examining the correspondence between functional analyses and other types of FBAs have produced inconsistent results. In addition, although functional analyses are considered the gold standard, their contribution toward successful treatment compared with other FBA methods remains unclear. This comparative effectiveness study, conducted with 57 young children with autism spectrum disorder, evaluated the results of FBAs that did (n = 26) and did not (n = 31) include a functional analysis. Results of FBAs with and without functional analyses showed modest correspondence. All participants who completed functional communication training achieved successful outcomes regardless of the type of FBA conducted.

Those of us who think in terms of legacies hope that, when our time comes to cease being a behavior analyst (when they pry that tattered copy of Science and Human Behavior from our cold, dead hands1), we will be remembered for doing something well. The difficulty in memorializing our friend and colleague Ronnie Detrich (Figure 1), who passed away peacefully on September 9, 2023, is that he was, in whatever he chose to work on, among the best we ever met.

Ronnie worked on a lot of things over a career that spanned more than 5 decades. His early professional years were spent delivering services to people with disabilities in places where few wanted to tread: the back ward of a state hospital, a desperately underfunded Native American reservation, and schools that needed but didn't want his expertise. Between then and 2023, he also conducted translational research in a pigeon laboratory, conducted applied research on correspondence training, helped to build a model service delivery agency (Spectrum Center), and cofounded a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting evidence-based education (the Wing Institute2). He read and discussed philosophy, developed rigorous but supportive staff supervision systems, and organized multidisciplinary events that brought together behavior analysts and others who care deeply about the education system and the people it serves.

The thing about Ronnie was that if you weren't paying close attention, you could easily miss him. He was the furthest thing possible from a self-promoter, and if he had something to promote—for instance, mission-driven Wing Institute “think tank” gatherings—the topic was front and center. First and foremost, he was a listener. When he did speak up, his message was forceful and incisive, yet designed to advance the conversation, not to advance his standing. No one we've known more comfortably embodied Skinner's (1972) perspective on personal credit and responsibility, as laid out in “A lecture on ‘having a poem’” and elsewhere.

During the second half of his career, Ronnie took aim at two things he found intolerable: that the public education system should be mediocre and that behavior analysis should treat big social systems like education more or less as an afterthought. Ronnie understood that this meant tilting at some pretty intractable windmills. He knew, for instance, that the world inhabited by applied behavior analysis is not a gentle one. The work is difficult and societal systems are not always welcoming of the change that a behavioral approach can bring. Yet Ronnie's hardscrabble early years in rural West Texas, especially his background in sports, prepared him well for this world. He did not shy away from hard work, and he had limited patience for those who were interested in shortcuts, especially those who cried “Foul!” when behavior analysis wasn't instantly celebrated by the larger world. His advice, when things got rough, was in effect t

Henry S. Pennypacker—“Hank” to all who knew him—passed away on September 12, 2023. His career spanned the evolution of the field of behavior analysis and contributed immeasurably to its progress.

Hank grew up in Missoula, Montana, receiving bachelors and master's degrees from the University of Montana. He studied under Gregory Kimble at Duke University, earning his doctorate in 1962. He then joined the faculty of the psychology department at the University of Florida (UF) and retired there in 1998, although he continued to play an active role in the Behavior Analysis program.

Although he maintained his doctoral focus on classical eyelid conditioning in monkeys for his first few years at UF, he soon began a transition toward behavior analysis, which was gradually acquiring a distinct identity. This conversion was both reflected and facilitated by the addition to the department of Edward F. Malagodi, who had completed his doctoral work at the University of Miami under Dan Cruise. Ed arrived in 1968 with a grant to establish a pigeon lab and a commitment to teach core graduate courses in behavior analysis. Ed's role enabled the beginning of what became the Behavior Analysis program in the department, headed by Hank, one of the earliest in the country and one that continues to this day. Marc Branch soon joined the program, bringing a focus on behavioral pharmacology, and I joined the program in 1975, having completed my graduate studies under Hank in 1970.

Hank's interests in behavior analysis soon took shape. With a commitment to practice in his undergraduate teaching what he preached at the lectern, he began a vigorous initiative to investigate ways of improving student performance to what could justifiably be called mastery level (see Johnston & Pennypacker, 1971). This effort, which was part of the field's growing interest in applying behavior analysis to college-level instructional technology, eventually led Hank to establish a university-wide program involving other faculty and courses, as well as an arrangement with the UF athletic department, which was interested in maintaining the eligibility of student athletes.

His undergraduate teaching efforts were only the beginning of his interest in education, however. In 1969, Hank invited Ogden Lindsley to conduct a three-day Precision Teaching trainer's workshop at UF. This experience cemented a life-long professional and personal relationship with Og, who was in the early stages of developing Precision Teaching and its six-cycle Standard Behavior Chart. Hank coauthored the seminal handbook for the chart in 1972 (Pennypacker et al., 1972), with a second edition published in 2003 (Pennypacker et al., 2003). He remained a leader in the Precision Teaching community throughout his career.

The centerpiece of Hank's literary accomplishments was the publication in 1980 of our textbook on research methods, building on Sidman's T