The Development of a Calculator for Objectively Evaluating Supervisory Behaviors in Practice.

Supervision has been a popular topic of study by behavior analysts for the last decade. This popularity came about after several hallmark articles were published and key events in our profession enhanced clarity regarding how much impact supervision can have on important variables such as the quality of behavior-analytic service delivery, patient outcomes, staff satisfaction, and level of staff burnout. Despite the increase in the volume of supervision literature, few articles have provided concrete recommendations for how to objectively evaluate supervisory behaviors in practice.

An Organizational Model for Increasing Access to the Scholarly Literature.

Incorporating literature into practice can help behavior analysts provide better services and achieve better outcomes. In addition, behavior analysts have an ethical obligation to remain current with the scholarly literature and to use it to inform services. Despite the merits of maintaining regular contact with the published literature, barriers exist to doing so.

Improving Behavior Analysts' Public Speaking: Recommendations From Expert Interviews.

In his 2014 paper, Friman provided 15 recommendations for behavior analysts wishing to improve their public speaking skills and encouraged the field to view public speaking as a mechanism through which we can more broadly disseminate our science. Although some behavior-analytic research exists on the topic of public speaking, this body of literature is small, and many empirical questions remain. Little is known regarding which skills need to be targeted to improve public speaking and what successful public speakers in our field do to be effective and entertaining.

Reproductive success diminished following mate loss for females but not males in a monogamous rodent.

The strictly monogamous California mouse (Peromyscus californicus) forms life-long pair bonds and mates exclusively with a single partner. While studies in the wild indicate that individuals may re-pair with a new partner following mate loss, the preponderance of this behavior and subsequent reproductive outcomes following re-pairing are understudied. To examine reproductive outcomes following re-pairing and to look for sex-specific differences following mate loss, birth records of 584 California mouse pairs from our laboratory were analyzed.

Mouse Mandibular Retromolar Taste Buds Associated With a Mucus Salivary Gland.

We have characterized a recently rediscovered chemosensory structure at the rear of the mandibular mucosa in the mouse oral cavity originally reported in the 1980s. This consists of unorganized taste buds, not contained within troughs, associated with the ducts of an underlying minor salivary gland. Using whole-mount preparations of transgenic mice expressing green fluorescent protein under the promoter of taste-signaling-specific genes, we determined that the structure contains taste bud clusters and salivary gland orifices at the rear of each mandible, distal to the last molar and anterior to the ascending ramus.

Promoting Ethical Discussions and Decision Making in a Human Service Agency.

This article describes the development of a system, the Ethics Network, designed to promote discussion of ethical issues in a human services organization. The system includes several core components, including people (e.g.

Overcoming Barriers to Applied Research: A Guide for Practitioners.

The research-to-practice gap is evident in many disciplines. This gap can be seen through practitioners failing to integrate the latest research findings into their work, and through the implementation of procedures that do not have empirical support. As the number of behavior-analytic practitioners grows, this gap is likely to become more salient.

Quality Improvement and Behavior Analysis: A Dynamic Duo.

Behavior analysis as a discipline prides itself on the systematic use of consistent, measured observations to drive specific and clearly defined changes in behavior. The need for diversification of practice is becoming increasingly focused on the topic. We posit that one such area of growth for behavior analysts could be quality improvement (QI).

Board Certified Behavior Analysts' Supervisory Practices of Trainees: Survey Results and Recommendations.

The field of behavior analysis relies on supervised fieldwork to shape the repertoires of individuals aspiring to sit for the Behavior Analyst Certification Board® (BACB®) exam. Board Certified Behavior Analysts® (BCBAs®) who are providing supervision to those seeking certification must follow the supervision and ethics requirements as directed by the BACB. We conducted a survey of BCBAs currently providing supervision to gather information about current practices and barriers.

Teaching Mands for Information Using "Why" to Children With Autism.

Mands for information (MFIs) play an important role in language development and are important for successfully acquiring new information from one's environment. Yet many individuals with autism do not acquire mands for information without direct teaching. Research has demonstrated effective procedures for teaching all "wh" forms, except for "why.

Using a Prerequisite Skills Assessment to Identify Optimal Modalities for Mand Training.

This study examined the utility of a brief prerequisite assessment in predicting the subsequent effectiveness and rate of acquisition of mand training in each of three response modalities (sign, picture exchange, and vocalizations). Overall, the picture exchange was the most effective and efficient modality for acquiring the targeted mand. The vocal modality was the least effective except when the prerequisite assessment indicated that two-syllable vocal imitation was intact.

Evaluation of stimulus intensity fading on reduction of rapid eating in a child with autism.

This study assessed the effects of a vibrating pager on reduction of rapid eating. The study also evaluated two strategies for fading the pager, by intensity and by frequency. The pager was successful in decreasing the pace of eating to an appropriate level and the pager prompt was successfully faded.

The Benefits of Group Supervision and a Recommended Structure for Implementation.

Effective supervision practices can facilitate the professional development of the supervisee, the continued growth of the supervisor, and the overall development of our field and its practice. In addition to individual supervision, many aspiring certificants also participate in group supervision experiences either as part of their academic practicum or as part of a supervised independent fieldwork experience. Group supervision can provide unique opportunities to establish critical professional repertoires such as peer feedback skills and public speaking skills.

Recommendations for Detecting and Addressing Barriers to Successful Supervision.

Behavior analysts who supervise staff are responsible for establishing a healthy supervisory relationship and for teaching basic behavior analytic skills (e.g., verbal repertoires, technical repertoires, clinical decision-making).

Recommended Practices for Individual Supervision of Aspiring Behavior Analysts.

Practicing behavior analysts and behavior analysts in academic settings often provide supervision for young professionals who are pursuing certification as a behavior analyst. Effective supervision is critical to the quality of ongoing behavioral services, the professional development of the supervisee, the continued growth of the supervisor, and the overall development of our field and its practice. The Behavior Analyst Certification Board recently instituted several new requirements including training in supervisory practices prior to supervising those who are accruing hours toward the experience requirement for certification.

Empirical Investigations of the Intraverbal: 2005-2015.

Several papers have reviewed the literature based on Skinner's conceptual framework presented in his 1957 book, These reviews have called for more research on the topic of verbal behavior generally and often for more research on particular verbal operants. For example, Sautter and LeBlanc (2006) urged the behavior-analytic community to conduct more research on the intraverbal because of the scant existing literature base at that time. In the current review, we replicate the procedures used by Sautter and LeBlanc focusing specifically on the intraverbal relation and on the literature published in the 10 years since their call for research.

Teaching Feminine Hygiene Skills to Young females with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual Disability.

Little applied research focuses on teaching feminine hygiene skills to females with disabilities, yet this is a common clinical concern. The current study demonstrates the use of chaining to teach two young females with autism spectrum disorder feminine hygiene skills. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline across participants was utilized, and the results indicate that both participants acquired the skill.

Assessing the efficacy of pictorial preference assessments for children with developmental disabilities.

Past research has demonstrated that pictorial preference assessments can predict subsequent reinforcement effects for individuals with developmental disabilities only when access to the selected stimulus is provided contingent on a pictorial selection. The purpose of the present investigation was to assess more comprehensively the feasibility of the pictorial format with children with developmental disabilities. In Experiment 1, prerequisite skill assessments were conducted, and the role of a contingent reinforcer was assessed by comparing the results from the pictorial assessment without contingent access to a reinforcer assessment.

Use of a Modified Chaining Procedure with Textual Prompts to Establish Intraverbal Storytelling.

Echoic, tact, and textual transfer procedures have been proven successful in establishing simple intraverbals (Braam and Poling Applied Research in Mental Retardation, 4, 279-302, 1983; Luciano Applied Research in Mental Retardation, 102, 346-357, 1986; Watkins et al. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 7, 69-81, 1989). However, these strategies may be ineffective for some children due to the complexity of the targeted intraverbals.

Mands for Information Using "How" Under EO-Absent and EO-Present Conditions.

The present study replicates and extends previous research on teaching "How?" mands for information to children with autism. The experimental preparation involved mand training in the context of completing preferred activities and included training and testing under conditions when the establishing operation (EO) was present and absent. Results show that two children with autism acquired mands for information using How? only in situations where information was valuable (i.

Mands for information using "who?" and "which?" in the presence of establishing and abolishing operations.

Treatments designed to teach mands for information have included prompting and differential reinforcement, as well as procedures to manipulate the relevant establishing operation (EO). However, previous studies have not included relevant abolishing operation (AO) conditions to ensure that the mand is under relevant antecedent control. Data on listener responses (i.

Comparing the effects of echoic prompts and echoic prompts plus modeled prompts on intraverbal behavior.

We compared strategies to teach vocal intraverbal responses to an adolescent diagnosed with autism and Down syndrome. One strategy involved echoic prompts only. The second strategy involved an echoic prompt paired with a modeled prompt in the form of sign language.

Differential reinforcement with and without blocking as treatment for elopement.

Blocking is a frequent component of treatments for elopement. Unfortunately, blocking may not always be feasible because elopement often occurs when supervision is low or the behavior cannot be prevented. The present study evaluated the use of blocking in the treatment of elopement by using differential reinforcement of other behavior with and without blocking.

An investigation of extinction-induced vocalizations.

Children with autism have significant communication delays. Although some children develop vocalizations through shaping and differential reinforcement, others rarely exhibit vocalizations, and alternative methods are targeted in intervention. However, vocal language often remains a goal for caregivers and clinicians.

Teaching a child with autism to mand for information using "how".

Children with autism often do not learn to mand for information without structured teaching. Studies have demonstrated that manipulation of establishing operations (EOs), prompts, prompt fading, and differential reinforcement are effective in teaching children with autism to ask "wh" questions such as "what," "who," and "where." To date, no studies have evaluated procedures to teach children with autism to mand for information using "how.