A Two Step Validation of the Performance-Based IISCA: A Trauma-Informed Functional Analysis Model.

Unlabelled: Functional analyses often involve extended exposure to evocative events and problem behavior, which potentially places the client at risk of retraumatization. The performance-based, interview-informed synthesized contingency analysis (IISCA) is a brief analysis that is conducted in a single session and applies a trauma-assumed framework in the development of the assessment procedures (e.g.

The Lunchbox Study: A Pilot Examination of Packed Lunches of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Background: This study examined foods packed and consumed by children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and calculated the percentage of packed school lunches meeting National School Lunch Program (NSLP) standards. Fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption was further examined by investigating its association with the number and type of foods packed. Methods: Participants included 59 private school students observed for five school meals.

On the Occurrence of Dangerous Problem Behavior during Functional Analysis: An Evaluation of 30 Applications.

Functional analyses are often conducted by behavior analysts to understand the environmental variables contributing to an individual's problem behavior to better inform treatment implementation. While functional analyses are integral for designing function-based interventions, they often arrange contingencies to evoke and reinforce dangerous problem behavior. In Study 1 we reviewed 22 functional analyses with open-contingency classes including non-dangerous topographies of problem behavior and we found that participants were more likely to exhibit the non-dangerous behavior in 82% of the applications.

Using a Lag Schedule of Reinforcement to Increase Response Variability in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Lag reinforcement schedules have been shown in previous research to be an effective intervention for teaching verbal and nonverbal response variability to individuals with developmental disabilities. In more recent research, variability itself has been considered a reinforceable behavior in its own right (Susa & Schlinger, The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 18, 125-130, 2012). Lag schedules of reinforcement can be used to teach variability by using contingencies that require responses to differ from previous responses.

The effects of work-reinforcer schedules on skill acquisition for children with autism.

This study evaluated the effects of continuous and discontinuous work-reinforcer schedule arrangements on skill acquisition for three students with autism. Participants were initially exposed to both schedules in an alternating schedules condition where they were taught different but equivalent skills for each schedule. In the discontinuous schedule condition, participants completed work in small increments to gain access to a reinforcer for short periods of time.

An evaluation of the observer effect on treatment integrity in a day treatment center for children.

Treatment integrity is an important concern in treatment centers but is often overlooked. Performance feedback is a well-established approach to improving treatment integrity, but is underused and undervalued. One way to increase its value to treatment centers may be to expose unrealized benefits on the observer who collects the performance feedback data.

Use of video eyewear to manage distress in children during restorative dental treatment.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of video eyewear in reducing disruptive behavior in a typical pediatric dental population during restorative treatment appointments.

Methods: One hundred twenty-eight 4- to 16-year-olds were recruited from a continuous sample of patients seen in an urban dental clinic. Direct observations of distress, self-reported measures of pain, and patient satisfaction were obtained in a randomized clinical trial comparing 2 different types of glasses: (1) wraparound video eyewear; and (2) sunglasses (typical treatment in this dental clinic).

Visual performance feedback: effects on targeted and nontargeted staff.

This study used a multiple baseline with reversal design to assess whether visual performance feedback (VPF) influenced targeted and nontargeted staffs' use of behavior-specific praise (BSP) in a day-treatment program. This study expands on the typical VPF audience and assesses whether VPF can be effective with noncertified staff in a day-treatment program for young children with behavior disorders, an environment in which it is difficult to maintain high rates of BSP. In previous school-based studies, VPF has been collected by researchers and provided to targeted teaching staff.

Use of audio cuing to expand employment opportunities for adolescents with autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disabilities.

We evaluated audio cuing to facilitate community employment of individuals with autism and intellectual disability. The job required promoting products in retail stores by wearing an air-inflated WalkAround® costume of a popular commercial character. Three adolescents, ages 16-18, were initially trained with video modeling.

Evaluation of two instruction methods to increase employment options for young adults with autism spectrum disorders.

We evaluated the efficacy of a vocational training program including behavioral skills training, and a "performance cue system" (i.e., a proprietary iPhone application adapted for the study) to teach targeted social-vocational skills to six young adults with an Autism Spectrum Disorder.