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AbstractChildren on the autism spectrum tend to consume fewer healthy foods than typically developing children. Given the negative effects of unhealthy eating, it is important to increase healthy food selection. The current study examined whether manipulating the delay to reinforcement would increase healthy food selection in a concurrent‐operants assessment. During the concurrent‐operants assessment, participants chose between a snack and a fruit and the researchers systematically added a delay to the snack to switch the allocation of responding from the snack to the fruit. The results showed that one participant's response allocation switched from the snack to the fruit at a delay of 30 s and two participants' response allocation switched at the 60‐s delay. This suggests that manipulating the delay to reinforcement may increase healthy food selection for some children on the autism spectrum.

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to examine the effects of interfering with verbal and visual mediation in groups that received different training sequences in the intraverbal naming task. Experiment 1 examined the effects of disrupting verbal mediation during the image‐matching test. Participants were assigned to one of four groups. Two groups received tact instruction prior to intraverbal instruction (TI groups) and the other two received the opposite training sequence (IT groups). One TI and one IT group were instructed to engage in a task intended to disrupt verbal mediation during test. The disruption task did not differentially affect the groups based on instruction sequence. Experiment 2 examined the effects of disrupting visual imagery during intraverbal training. Participants were assigned to one of four groups, two TI and two IT. One TI and one IT group were instructed to engage in a task intended to disrupt visualization during intraverbal training. This disruption task differentially affected response speed during test for the IT group. Results indicate that verbal behavior at test may contribute to correct responding yet also point to the availability of an additional source of stimulus control when names are acquired prior to intraverbal training.

Abstract Instrumental behavior is typically organized into bouts, with distinct behavioral processes seemingly governing within‐bout response rate, bout‐initiation rate, and bout length. This organization, however, may instead arise simply from the spatial proximity of the organism to the operandum at the end of each response. Two experiments used rats to test the organization of spatially extended instrumental responses into bouts and the sensitivity of bout parameters to critical manipulations. In Experiment 1, rats consecutively pressed two levers located on either side of an operant chamber, reinforced on a tandem variable‐time (VT) 150‐s fixed‐ratio (FR) 1 schedule (Phase 1). The FR requirement was then increased (Phase 2) before food restriction was reduced (Phase 3). In Experiment 2, reinforcement was contingent on pressing a single lever or alternating between two levers in alternating multiple‐schedule components. Lever pressing was then extinguished in both components. Regardless of topography, responses were organized in bouts (Experiments 1 and 2). Higher FR requirements increased bout length (Experiment 1), and the response‐alternation requirement reduced within‐bout response rate (Experiment 2). Both manipulations, along with reduced deprivation and extinction, reduced bout‐initiation rates. These results rule out the possibility that bouts of responses emerge from the spatial proximity of terminating and initiating operants.

Abstract Ensuring high-quality general and special education in preschools is crucial for the positive development of at-risk children and children with special needs. However, recent reports suggest inconsistencies in general education quality and challenges in implementing special education support and early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI). These results indicate that further training is needed to improve the quality of services for preschool children with special needs. The current study employed a delayed multiple probe design to evaluate a staff training program’s influence on the quality of general education, EIBI, and evocative situations in three inclusive preschool units. The intervention lasted 17 weeks, consisting of a 4-h post-baseline workshop and biweekly coaching with the entire staff group. The quality of the teaching and learning environment, measured by the Autism Program Environment Rating Scale (APERS-P-SE), improved in two preschools. We observed improvement in the quality of evocative situations with a large effect size, increased children’s response rate during lunch, improved EIBI quality, and good social validity. This indicates that using APERS-P-SE to establish objectives for inclusive practices and training the entire staff group with a focus on evocative situations may be one way to improve the implementation of EIBI and the quality of preschools’ teaching and learning environment.

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ABSTRACTAutistic children often have difficulties learning to transition out of diapers and controlling continence. Due to this, children on the spectrum may require a more systematic toilet training protocol than what parents may use with typically developing children. Most published toilet training procedures with this population include some form of punishment as a component of the treatment package, which may raise ethical concerns. Thus, the purpose of the present investigation was to examine the effects of a standardized behavior analytic toilet training package without a punishment that included the following components: 1) preference assessment, 2) request training, 3) differential reinforcement for staying dry, 4) underwear, and 5) progressive sit schedule on the successful urinations in the toilet by young children with autism. For students who did not meet mastery criteria with the standardized training package, we implemented a contingent progressive sit schedule followed by the individualized interventions when necessary. Three of the five participants successfully learned how to urinate in the toilet with the standardized toilet training package alone. One participant required a contingent progressive sit schedule phase, and one participant required an individualized intervention to reach mastery. Four of the five participants maintained responding when the package was faded out over a 4‐week period.

Stimulus equivalence has been considered to be a basis of the human use of “language”. Numerous studies have been conducted on stimulus equivalence in …

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Abstract Applied behavior analysis is a quantitative field. We calculate frequency of responses per minute, percentage of incorrect and correct responses, percentage of agreement across raters on a regular basis. The safety in numbers can be comfortable—they are clear and objective. However, numbers do not provide the whole picture of a person’s experience. Qualitative approaches provide valuable insights into the lived experience of people. Yet, undertaking qualitative approaches can be scary for those of us in a quantitative field. The subjective data and findings can be extremely challenging to navigate. There is also the matter of feeling like an imposter or a fraud. In this personal narrative inquiry, I tell my story of embracing qualitative approaches as a behavior analyst, the challenges and the surprising discoveries of the depths this data could help us reach. The relevance of qualitative approaches lies in understanding how various qualitative methods and approaches can enhance our understanding of lived experience. Some points about qualitative research are drawn out for context, and my personal experience is explored to show the journey, joys, and challenges of discovering and embracing qualitative research as a behavior analyst.