Behavior Analysis in Practice最新文献

Many toddlers are likely to exhibit challenging behavior that caregivers may find stressful or difficult to manage. However, intensive behavioral intervention addressing challenging behavior may be costly and unnecessary if the parents can be taught how to assess and treat everyday challenging behavior in a practical manner. We conducted this study with caregiver implementers of five neurotypical toddlers who exhibited some level of challenging behavior. In addition, the caregivers and the families all identified as Latin Americans. The functional analyses identified a context in need of treatment in around 15 min and the treatment taught the toddlers increasingly complex communication responses that eliminated challenging behavior. In addition, caregivers completed a social validity questionnaire supporting the practical use of the assessment and treatment procedures in their home setting. We discuss the importance of these findings in terms of culturally relevant care.

Hispanic/Latiné individuals are not well-represented among master's and doctoral level board certified behavior analysts despite being well-represented at certificant levels with fewer educational requirements (i.e., registered behavior technicians and board certified assistant behavior analysts). To increase Hispanic/Latiné representation among master's and doctoral level behavior analysts, the field must first identify barriers that may be preventing individuals from this population from pursuing careers in behavior analysis. We surveyed undergraduate students who were currently enrolled in or had previously completed at least one behavior analytic course about their experiences with sociocultural barriers (e.g., lack of mentorship, white-centered pedagogy) previously suggested in the literature. Results indicated that, relative to white students, mentorship and diverse classroom examples are more likely to increase Hispanic/Latiné students’ plans to pursue behavior analysis. Implications and future directions for creating supportive environments for Hispanic/Latiné students are discussed.

Variable-ratio (VR) schedules of reinforcement can lead to steady response rates and make behavior less resistant to extinction but can be difficult to implement with fidelity. Utilizing a concurrent multiple baseline design across participants, we sought to determine how classroom assistant (CA) delivery of VR schedules followed mean and variability requirements and evaluated the effects of programmed schedules of reinforcement on the implementation of VR schedules. Results suggest that the use of programmed schedules of reinforcement led CAs to increase the variability of reinforcer delivery and remain closer to the desired mean. Programmed schedules of reinforcement increase the variability in classroom assistant-implemented VR schedules. Programmed schedules of reinforcement assist classroom assistants in remaining close to the intended mean of the VR schedule. Programmed schedules of reinforcement are cost-effective and easy to provide for classroom assistants in the classroom. The descriptive statistic range can be used to characterize the variability of reinforcement schedules.

In 1990, Ogden R. Lindsley served as guest faculty for Ohio State University’s Teleconference on applied behavior analysis. He captivated students and faculty with tales of his personal journey from experiences during World War II to studying under B. F. Skinner, and his development of precision teaching (PT) to preserve rate of response measurement in educational applications. Derived from an audio cassette recording of that seminar session, this article captures highlights of those stories and Dr. Lindsley’s discussion of topics ranging from his opinion of the open classroom movement to critiques of Sesame Street and errorless learning.

The use of physical restraint (PR) in behavioral interventions to ensure safety in response to severe aggressive behaviors in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a controversial subject. Its use should be planned and limited to behavioral emergencies, carried out by trained and supervised professionals. The present study evaluated the social validity of PR in the treatment of ASD with professionals from a Brazilian organization that follows the best practices for safety and implementation of PR, replicating the study by Luiselli et al. (2015). The results show that, overall, participants assessed this procedure as acceptable, effective, and safe, and they agree that it should only be used when all deescalation procedures fail and exclusively to ensure safety. Factors that may influence participants' evaluations are discussed, such as access to information, the need for use, supervision, training, and previous professional experience implementing PR, highlighting the importance of conducting further studies that evaluate the social validity of PR use with different populations.

Objectivity in behavior measurement is a defining feature of behavior analysis. With the increased accessibility of technology, there has been an increase in electronic data collection methods, which carry several advantages, such as ease of data transformation and transfer from electronic outputs (e.g., Microsoft Excel files). Countee is an electronic data collection application that has been named in over 30 articles in behavior-analytic journals. It is available for free on both iOS- and Android-based smartphones in multiple countries. The application allows for the programming of both frequency and duration keys, which can be used to derive additional measures. Despite its use in behavior analytic research and practice, a tutorial has not yet been published on the application. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to outline its features, provide instructions on its use, data transformations and calculations, and describe its benefits to ease replication and disseminate its use.

Many adolescents, particularly those diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), fail to get ≥ 60 min/day of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA), in line with the World Health Organization’s guidelines. Whole-day interventions (i.e., interventions implemented throughout the day) can increase physical activity (PA) levels throughout the day to meet these guidelines. However, there are no known behavior-analytic studies examining the effectiveness of whole-day interventions for increasing PA levels in adolescents diagnosed with ASD in both the short- and long-term. Two adolescent boys diagnosed with ASD and their mother tested the effectiveness of a parent-implemented multicomponent intervention package comprising progressive goal setting, feedback, reinforcement, and self-monitoring to increase whole-day step count. The participants increased their daily step counts to 14,000 steps (which translates to ≥ 60 min/day of MVPA) by the conclusion of the intervention, thus meeting or exceeding PA guidelines. The family then adjusted the procedure to better meet their lifestyle needs, resulting in long-term maintenance of PA above baseline levels at 6- and 11-months post-intervention for one participant, and 11-months post-intervention for the other participant. This study therefore shows the importance of tracking long-term changes in outcomes and understanding factors influencing the sustainability of these outcomes.

In 2023, the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) reported that there were over 160,000 registered behavior technicians (RBTs) certified to deliver behavior analytic services. Previous research suggests that RBTs experience varying levels of burnout and turnover intention. Providing employees breaks at work is one strategy that may decrease burnout and turnover. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 RBTs working in clinics, schools, and homes to inquire about their experiences with taking breaks at work. The results of the thematic analysis yielded the following themes: (1) breaks are important and necessary; (2) break conditions vary; and (3) support for taking breaks is mixed. The implications of these findings and recommendations for employees, supervisors, and organizations are discussed.

We conducted an online survey of board certified behavior analysts (n = 67) at a human services organization to assess their attitudes and opinions about trauma-informed care (TIC) of persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and compatibility with behavior analytic practice. Survey respondents indicated they had no to minimal college level/graduate school coursework, training, supervision, and implementation experience in TIC. They largely agreed that TIC should be considered for persons with IDD, provides knowledge that can improve behavior analytic services, should be emphasized in training, and is within the scope of behavior analyst practice. However, there was strong agreement that TIC is not defined or practiced consistently and is not well-researched by behavior analysts. We discuss the implications of these findings and present survey informed recommendations for advancing TIC within the behavior analytic professional community.