Implementing culturally responsive and trauma-informed practices with checklists and goal setting.

We discuss the use of two empirically validated behavior-change methods-checklists and goal setting-and designed a checklist to assist behavior analysts in improving their behavioral services to be more culturally responsive and trauma informed. We also present pilot data evaluating the use of the checklist and goal setting on the inclusion of culturally responsive and trauma-informed practices in behavior support plans designed for students in a public school. The training package was effective for both participants, and the participants' weekly goals corresponded to the observed changes in their behavior plans.

Cultural responsiveness in applied behavior analysis: Research and practice.

The new Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts requires that certificants engage in training related to culturally responsive service delivery (BACB, 2020). There is limited work in the area of culturally responsive evidence-based practice within our field. Therefore, it is incumbent on researchers and practitioners to identify best practices for working with diverse populations.

Cultural responsiveness in applied behavior analysis: Self-assessment.

Culture has a substantial impact on a wide range of behaviors related to behavioral research and services such as rapport building, preferences for specific targets and treatments, communication, and even the quality of health care. The need for professionals in the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA) to incorporate culturally responsive practices is underscored by the current and projected increase in diversity in the United States. Further, the update to the Ethics Code (BACB, 2020) supports addressing diversity in behavior analytic practice.

Behavior Analysts' Training and Practices Regarding Cultural Diversity: the Case for Culturally Competent Care.

The U.S. Census Bureau predicts that by 2044, the United States will become a majority minority nation, meaning no group will have a majority portion of the total population (Colby & Ortman, 2014).

Incorporating Interview-Informed Functional Analyses into Practice.

We replicated and extended the effects of an assessment and treatment model employed by Hanley et al. (, , 16-36, 2014) with one participant receiving home-based services. Following a functional analysis, we taught the participant multiple functional communication responses (FCRs) and to tolerate delays and denials to requested items.

Assessing the generality and durability of interview-informed functional analyses and treatment.

Due to the limited research demonstrating socially valid outcomes of function-based treatments in ecologically relevant environments (Santiago, Hanley, Moore, & Jin, 2016), we replicated and extended the effects of the interview-informed functional analysis and skill-based treatment procedure described by Hanley, Jin, Vanselow, and Hanratty (2014) with two children diagnosed with autism in a home setting. The assessment and treatment was implemented by a home-based service provider and treatment was extended to the participants' parents. Following the interview-informed functional analyses, we taught the participants functional communication responses and to engage in less-preferred activities when functional communication outcomes were delayed.

Improving the Conversational Skills of a College Student with Peer-Mediated Behavioral Skills Training.

We used a multiple baseline design across behaviors to evaluate peer-mediated behavioral skills training to improve a complex repertoire of conversational skills of an undergraduate student diagnosed with a learning disability NOS. Following treatment, we observed a decrease in interrupting and content specificity and an increase in questioning. Treatment effects maintained with naïve peers during unstructured conversations and outcomes compared favorably with normative data on the conversational skills of three undergraduates without learning disabilities.

Effects of a classwide teacher-implemented program to promote preschooler compliance.

We used a multiple baseline design across skills to evaluate the effects of a program to teach a classroom of children to respond to their name and a group call (i.e., precursors) as well as to peer mediate these precursors to promote compliance with a variety of multistep instructions.

Effects of peer mediation on preschoolers' compliance and compliance precursors.

We used a multiple baseline design across participants to evaluate the effects of teaching 4 typically developing preschoolers to attend to their names and to a group call (referred to as precursors) on their compliance with typical classroom instructions. We then measured the extent to which the effects on both precursors and compliance were maintained when the teaching procedures were removed. Levels of compliance eventually decreased for all children.

An individualized and comprehensive approach to treating sleep problems in young children.

We evaluated the effects of assessment-based interventions on the treatment of sleep problems in 3 young children, 2 of whom had been diagnosed with autism. We used sleep diaries and infrared nighttime video in the child's bedroom to obtain measures of sleep onset, sleep-interfering behaviors, night waking, total sleep, parental presence, and medication administration each night. We then identified environmental factors that contributed to sleep problems using an open-ended interview called the Sleep Assessment and Treatment Tool.

Effects of responding to a name and group call on preschoolers' compliance.

We assessed teacher-child relations with respect to children's name calls, instructions, and compliance in a preschool classroom. The most frequent consequence to a child's name being called was the provision of instructions. We also observed a higher probability of compliance when children attended to a name call.

Further evaluation of response-independent delivery of preferred stimuli and child compliance.

The effect of a fixed-time (FT) schedule involving the delivery of preferred stimuli prior to the issuance of a low-probability instruction was evaluated with 2 young children with autism. The FT schedule was introduced according to a reversal design with 3 target instructions, 1 for the first child and 2 for the second child. Compliance increased for 2 of the 3 cases.