Non-word repetition and vocabulary in Kuwaiti Arabic-speaking children with down syndrome and typically developing children.

Overview: Non-word repetition (NWR) is one of the most effective predictors of language impairments in children as it has been found to correlate with various language measures and the association between NWR and vocabulary is well documented in typically developing (TD) studies. However, there is a dire need for investigations of language skills in Kuwaiti Arabic individuals with Down Syndrome, and this study set out to fill a gap in this field.

Method: In this paper, we compare the vocabulary and NWR skills of a group of 48 individuals with DS aged 6-20 years to a group of 44 TD children aged 3-10 years matched on nonverbal IQ.

Deictic Relational Responding and Perspective-Taking in Autistic Individuals: A Scoping Review.

skills are crucial for successful social interactions and some autistic individuals seem to demonstrate great difficulty in this area. The concept continues to generate clinical and research interest across mainstream psychology and within behavior analysis. Within behavior analysis, relational frame theorists have argued that deictic relational responding is critically involved in perspective-taking.

Examining Procedural Variations of Delivering Competing Stimuli in the Treatment of Stereotypy.

Competing stimulus assessments (CSA) are effective tools for identifying stimuli that compete with automatically reinforced behavior. However, Jennett et al. suggests there are cases for which non-contingent access to competing stimuli are insufficient at decreasing target responding and additional treatment components may be necessary.

Response effort and resurgence.

This study provides an initial translational examination of response effort and resurgence. Eleven typically developing adults and five adolescents with autism served as participants across two experiments. Participants received points for touching moving stimuli on a computer screen.

Mitigating Racial Inequity by Addressing Racism in the Criminal Justice System: A Behavior Analytic Approach.

Racial inequity in the U.S. criminal justice system is a long-standing problem that has recently garnered international attention.

Assessing and Treating Anxiety in Individuals with Autism.

Anxiety is a cluster of responses that can involve both operant and respondent behavior, which can be both public and/or private in nature, and occurs when an upcoming aversive stimulus is signaled. Despite the reported high comorbidity of autism and anxiety, there has been very limited research on how to directly assess and treat anxiety, especially with individuals who have limited communication skills. In Study 1, anxiety was assessed in five individuals with autism, ranging in age from 10 to 19 years old.

Noncontingent reinforcement: Arbitrary versus maintaining reinforcers for escape-maintained problem behavior.

Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) involves the delivery of maintaining reinforcers on a time-dependent schedule and often includes extinction. However, arbitrary reinforcers may be equally efficacious during NCR without extinction for treating escape-maintained problem behavior. The purpose of this study was to extend previous research on NCR by evaluating the relative efficacy of NCR without extinction and comparing maintaining versus arbitrary reinforcers for 4 individuals with escape-maintained problem behavior.

Does teaching an omnibus mand preclude the development of specifying mands?

When problem behavior is controlled by a synthesized reinforcement contingency, a simple omnibus mand that yields access to all reinforcers simultaneously has been shown to effectively replace problem behavior. The question arises as to whether teaching an omnibus mand will preclude the acquisition of specifying mands for each of the combined reinforcers. In this study, after 3 students diagnosed with autism acquired an omnibus mand ("My way, please") that yielded all identified reinforcers simultaneously, specifying mands (e.

Nonword Repetition Skills in Gulf Arabic-Speaking Children With Developmental Language Disorder.

Purpose This study examined the performance of Gulf Arabic-speaking children with developmental language disorder (DLD) on a Gulf Arabic nonword repetition (GA-NWR) test and compared it to their age- and language-matched groups. We also investigated the role of syllable length, wordlikeness, and phonological complexity in light of NWR theories. Method A new GA-NWR test was conducted with three groups of Gulf Arabic-speaking children: school-age children with DLD, language-matched controls (LCs), and age-matched controls (ACs).

Functional analysis and generalized treatment of disruptive behavior during dental exams.

Patient disruption during dental visits can impede treatment and may result in invasive approaches to care. The current study evaluated the efficacy of graduated exposure with and without extinction to decrease disruption during dental treatment for 4 young men with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Modified functional analyses confirmed that disruption was maintained by escape from dental demands for all four young men.

Sensitivity to Changing Environmental Conditions across Individuals with Subtype 2 Automatically Reinforced and Socially Reinforced Self-injury.

Automatically reinforced Subtype 2 self-injurious behavior (ASIB) has been characterized as showing insensitivity to competing reinforcement contingencies in the contexts of both functional analyses and in treatment using reinforcement alone (Hagopian, Rooker, &Yenokyan, 2018). One question is whether this insensitivity is specific to Subtype 2 ASIB as response class in these contexts or whether it is represents a generalized response tendency of the individual that is evident across other response classes. To examine this question, we compared responding on a single-operant task under changing reinforcement schedules for three individuals with Subtype 2 ASIB, relative to a comparison group of three individuals with socially reinforced SIB (which is characterized by sensitivity to changes in reinforcement contingencies).

Increasing item engagement and decreasing automatically reinforced problem behavior within a modified competing stimulus assessment.

A competing stimulus assessment (CSA) is commonly used to identify leisure items for use in treatments designed to decrease automatically reinforced problem behavior. However, this type of assessment may not yield useful information if participants do not readily engage with leisure items. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a modified CSA that included additional treatment components (i.

An evaluation of differential reinforcement with stimulus fading as an intervention for medical compliance.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit noncompliance during medical exams. One intervention used to address this concern is differential reinforcement. Although differential reinforcement includes extinction, it may not be feasible or safe to implement extinction during medical exams.

Negative reinforcer magnitude manipulations for treating escape-maintained problem behavior.

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effects of different magnitudes of escape for compliance relative to the magnitudes of escape for problem behavior in a concurrent-schedule arrangement. Three individuals who exhibited escape-maintained problem behavior participated. A large differential magnitude condition (240-s escape for compliance, 10-s escape for problem behavior) was compared to equal (30-s escape for compliance and problem behavior) and moderate differential magnitude (90-s escape for compliance, 10-s escape for problem behavior) conditions.

Evaluation of an indirect assessment for identifying tasks for functional analysis.

Although a demand analysis is helpful for identifying potential establishing operations for the functional analysis (FA) demand condition, it may not always be practical due to time constraints. A potential alternative is the Negative Reinforcement Rating Scale (NRRS), an indirect assessment tool that may serve as a time efficient alternative to a demand analysis. The experimenter assessed the reliability and validity of the NRRS for 5 individuals with autism spectrum disorder who exhibited problem behavior.

Effects of decreasing intersession interval duration on graduated exposure treatment during simulated routine dental care.

Reports suggest that individuals with developmental disabilities often engage in behavior during dental visits that precludes regular dental care. Graduated exposure therapies are an effective treatment for avoidant behavior in people with developmental delays, and some studies show that the duration of the intersession interval (ISI) can impact the effectiveness of graduated exposure treatments for typically developing individuals. The current study examined the effects of decreasing ISI on outcomes of a graduated exposure treatment during simulated routine dental care for 3 individuals diagnosed with autism.

Producing mands in concurrent operant environments.

This study examined strategies designed to increase the rate of targeted, low-probability mands in a concurrent operant environment. We examined the effects of schedule manipulations, prompt manipulations, motivating operation manipulations, and combined behavioral process manipulations. Increases in target mands were produced for all 8 participants.

A comparison of differential reinforcement procedures for treating automatically reinforced behavior.

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit stereotypy, which can be socially stigmatizing, interfere with daily living skills, and affect skill acquisition. We compared differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) and differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) when neither procedure included response blocking or interruption for (a) reducing stereotypy, (b) increasing task engagement, and (c) increasing task completion. DRA contingencies yielded superior outcomes across each measure when evaluated with 3 individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

An analysis of treatment integrity of response interruption and redirection.

Response interruption and redirection has been shown to effectively decrease stereotypy, but its application outside an experimental setting has not been well studied. In Experiment 1, decreases in automatically maintained vocal stereotypy were obtained following treatment in a controlled setting for 3 participants diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Descriptive data on the consistency and accuracy of response interruption and redirection were then collected in the classroom setting.

An evaluation of a punisher assessment for decreasing automatically reinforced problem behavior.

We extended research on the identification and evaluation of potential punishers for decreasing automatically reinforced problem behavior in four individuals with autism spectrum disorder. A punisher selection interview was conducted with lead clinicians to identify socially acceptable punishers. During the treatment evaluation, treatment phases were introduced sequentially and included noncontingent reinforcement (NCR), NCR and differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA), and NCR-and-DRA with punishment.

Effects of programmed teaching errors on acquisition and durability of self-care skills.

This investigation sheds light on necessary and sufficient conditions to establish self-care behavior chains among people with developmental disabilities. First, a descriptive assessment (DA) identified the types of teaching errors that occurred during self-care instruction. Second, the relative effects of three teaching errors observed during the DA were evaluated across two behavior chains for three participants.

Restricted Interests and Autism: Further Assessment of Preferences for a Variety of Leisure Items.

Researchers have yet to identify the conditions under which people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder demonstrate restricted interests; it is possible that the impression of restricted interests is strengthened when a limited variety of items are included in a client's preference assessments. This study will extend past research on preferences of children with autism by (a) examining participants' preferences for unreplenished (familiar) play or leisure items versus items that are replenished frequently, (b) assessing if participants who prefer replenished items select items with properties that are matched or unmatched to their most preferred unreplenished item, and (c) assessing if participants who show an exclusive preference for unreplenished items will select replenished items during response-restriction and enhanced-replenished pool manipulations. Participants were four adolescents with autism and a caregiver-reported history of restricted interests.

Taking Full Responsibility: the Ethics of Supervision in Behavior Analytic Practice.

The supervision of professionals in the field of behavior analysis is multifaceted. The BACB® Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior Analysis provides guidance for effective supervisory practices, as supervision impacts both the supervisee and the consumers. The purpose of this article is (1) to discuss rationales and consequences relative to supervision issues, (2) to provide directions for professional development in each of the seven identified supervisory areas within the code, and (3) to set the occasion for critical discourse relative to supervision.

Recombinative Generalization of Tacts Through Matrix Training with Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Foss (Journal of Experimental Psychology, 76, 450-459, 1968a; Journal of Experimental Psychology, 77, 341-344, 1968b) compared overlap and non-overlap instruction to promote recombinative response generalization using a matrix training procedure. In the present study, we used a similar set of procedures to teach tacting of kitchen items and prepositions (i.e.