Behavior Analysis in Practice最新文献

Taylor et al. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 12, 654–666, (2019) recommended that applied behavior analysts develop more collaborative relationships with their clients' caregivers by researching, training, and providing compassionate care in applied behavior analysis (ABA). A behavior analytic interpretation of compassionate care could support the development of such training and support collaborative relationships with not only caregivers, but all participants in ABA services (e.g., clients, stakeholders, providers, supervisees, and other professionals). The present article will review a relational frame theory account of compassionate care and discuss the possibility of expanding the concept of compassionate care by discussing its similarities with two other middle level terms: cultural humility and psychological flexibility. Given these similarities and the evidence that Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) supports several self-management skills including psychological flexibility, we will discuss ways practicing ACT could facilitate compassionate care, cultural humility, and collaborative relationships in human service organizations. The ACT Matrix will be presented to elaborate on how ACT, as a viable and comprehensive technology, may support behavior analysts’ training and practice of psychologically flexible skills which might bolster a compassionate care repertoire. Given this review, a possible consilience of compassionate care, including the proposed component of cultural humility, as facilitated by psychological flexibility will be offered. Finally, implications of this approach to practitioners, clients, and ABA as a whole will be discussed in conjunction with recommendations for future research and how ABA leadership can support the development and sustainability of compassionate care in ABA organizations.

Parents of children diagnosed with autism face enormous stressors, which may interfere with achieving personal and family goals. The typical approach for reducing stress is often pathological; the individual attempts to directly eliminate the stress through counseling, behavioral therapy, or medication. As an alternative, the constructional approach builds repertoires for accessing important reinforcers. In this study, a mentoring program based on the constructional approach was used to teach three parents of children diagnosed with autism how to analyze their lives, formulate goals, and implement programs to reach these goals. A mentor’s support was gradually reduced until each participant could implement these steps independently. After the implementation of this program, events that each participant wanted to keep as part of their life encompassed a larger proportion of their total weekly events, as compared to before the program. In addition, time spent working on chosen goals increased as each goal was targeted for intervention. This mentoring program offers a promising approach for teaching people to manage their own lives by cultivating skills that help them get what they want, without dwelling on the problems interfering with their happiness.

Board certified behavior analysts (BCBAs) are often called upon to recommend treatments while working with autistic individuals. As practitioners of the science of human behavior, behavior analysts must make recommendations supported by scientific evidence. However, at times, individual practitioners may inadvertently recommend interventions that are not evidence-based. This study sought to examine if the severity level of the present symptoms of autism impacted the recommendations made by behavior analysts. A survey of 122 BCBAs gathered information about how they allocated resources toward interventions across three categories: evidence-based, emergent, and nonevidence-based. The results indicate that up to 62% of BCBAs allocated resources toward nonevidence-based or emergent practices and that these resource allocations were affected by the autism severity of hypothetical client presentations. There were statistically significant differences between allocations to resources between individuals with the lowest symptom severity and those maximally affected for both evidence-based practice (p < 0.0009) and nonevidence practice (p < 0.0011).

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are likely to experience sleep disturbance. Evidence supports the effectiveness of functional analysis and behavioral sleep interventions to address sleep problems. However, these approaches are resource intensive in terms of assessment and measurement of target sleep behaviors, intervention implementation, and progress monitoring. Recent advances in the use of technology and telehealth in behavioral services may improve the efficiency and effectiveness of behavioral intervention. We evaluated the effectiveness of a hybrid (face-to-face and telehealth) model of behavioral sleep assessment and intervention as implemented by community-based behavior analysts. We used motion/sound detection cameras and various “apps,” for remote viewing, caregiver coaching, data collection, and treatment decision making. We explored the agreement between various data sources. Three autistic children, who engaged in caregiver reported unwanted co-sleeping or behavioral sleep challenges, participated in the study along with their caregivers. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across participants was used to evaluate the effects of the intervention on sleep onset delay, sleep interfering behavior, and total sleep duration. For two participants, caregiver co-sleeping was eliminated, target bedtimes were achieved, and child participants regularly achieved an age-appropriate amount of sleep. Caregivers rated the intervention and child outcomes positively. The results provide preliminary evidence for the use of telehealth technology to provide caregiver coaching, monitor child progress, and make timely data-based treatment decisions. Results of this study may be used to increase the efficiency of––and access to––behavioral sleep assessment and intervention.

Considering empowerment as a circumstance under which power is extended, this article describes the elements of a metacontingency that allow such a function transfer to occur. Particular interest is placed on the empowerment of Mexican women in higher education and its unsatisfactory state. Mentoring is proposed as a tool for the empowerment of women in behavior analysis. In particular, the article presents an outline of a 2-year mentoring program that will promote interlocked behavioral contingencies and their products, which can be selected by the proper academic environment. This program also promotes the development of the mentee's agency and a set of data related to the products being created. Finally, this article highlights the possibility that such a mentorship program can empower female behavior analysts in Mexico and begin to change the cultural practices that uphold inequality for women.

There has been a substantial increase in the racial and ethnic diversity of the United States population in the past 10–12 years, with the second most prevalent racial or ethnic group being Hispanic or Latino (Jensen, 2021). As a result, it is crucial that behavior analysts are prepared to serve consumers from all backgrounds, including those who do not speak English fluently. One important component for service delivery for linguistically diverse consumers is the incorporation of an interpreter. Given that few peer-reviewed articles in behavior analysis have been published regarding working with interpreters, the current study evaluated the effectiveness of Behavioral Skills Training (Fleming et al., 1996 Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 16(1), 3–25) to teach behavior analysis graduate students to work with an interpreter during behavior analytic service provision with Spanish-speaking families. The results of this study show that practitioners can be trained to work with an interpreter in a relatively short amount of time. However, training with an interpreter did not affect caregiver comprehension. The results of the satisfaction surveys suggest that the interpreters noted significant improvements in the practitioners’ responding following training, whereas the caregivers did not. The participants also completed satisfaction surveys following the study and indicated positive experiences with the training.

The applied behavior analysis (ABA) service industry is currently estimated to be worth at least $4 billion. As a result of potential profits that can be made from ABA services, for-profit organizations have become more common in the field. One type of for-profit organization that has become especially prominent in the ABA service industry is private equity (PE)-owned ABA companies. As PE ownership has become more common in ABA and other human service industries, concerns about PE ownership have grown across disciplines. The current article focuses specifically on PE’s involvement in ABA services. The definition of PE and its fundamental components are discussed, along with their potential benefits and risks. The potential impacts of PE and opportunities for future research are also discussed.

Culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) families of autistic children face unique challenges in accessing services that are appropriate for their cultures and languages. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the impact of training language on caregiver skill acquisition. Using behavioral skills training (BST) through telehealth, three Latino caregivers whose first language is Spanish were taught to implement two different behavioral protocols with their autistic children. For one protocol, BST was done in Spanish; for the other, BST was done in English. Overall, the training in each family’s first language was (1) more efficient at promoting the skill acquisition of both caregivers and children; (2) rated by caregivers as more socially valid, and (3) associated with higher levels of caregivers’ indices of personalismo, involvement, and happiness. Findings suggest that cultural adaptations may be necessary to provide more effective and enjoyable training for CLD families.

Individuals seeking certification as a board certified behavior analyst (BCBA) by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) must meet certain eligibility requirements. In addition to passing the BCBA examination, such requirements include completion of a master’s degree, behavior-analytic coursework, and supervised practical fieldwork. In accruing fieldwork hours, trainees must be provided with the opportunity to complete unrestricted activities. The BACB defines unrestricted activities as “. . . those that are most likely to be performed by a BCBA,” and requires that 60% of fieldwork hours are comprised of these activities (BACB, 2022b). Fieldwork hours may be accrued across a number of different host sites (e.g., hospital units, schools, community locations), with each host site having different day-to-day responsibilities affecting how these opportunities are provided. Therefore, exploration of the provision of these opportunities and the barriers to providing these opportunities is warranted. The current study sought to determine the current practices involved in provision of opportunities to gain fieldwork experience hours towards BCBA certification; in particular, practices related to unrestricted fieldwork activities. Results indicate that, although unrestricted learning opportunities are often provided to trainees, contingencies present within the day-to-day operations of a clinical environment can be hampering. A discussion of the implications of these barriers and potential solutions are included.

Perspective taking is a critical repertoire for navigating social relationships and consists of a variety of complex verbal skills, including socially adaptive forms of deception. Detecting and being able to use socially adaptive deception likely has many practical uses, including defending oneself against bullying, telling white lies to avoid hurting others’ feelings, keeping secrets and bluffing during games, and playing friendly tricks on others. Previous research has documented that some Autistic¹ children have challenges identifying deception and playfully deceiving others (Reinecke et al., 1997). The current study employed a multiple baseline across participants design to evaluate the use of multiple exemplar training, rules, modeling, practice, and feedback for teaching four Autistic children and adolescents to use deception to play friendly tricks on others. The procedure was successful for all participants, and generalization was achieved across novel, untrained tricks.