Behavior analysts typically assess and treat challenging behavior after it occurs regularly and at high severity. Although effective, this reactive approach is quite costly and resource intensive. A growing literature supports an alternative preventive approach; the first step involves conducting sensitivity tests to screen the topographies and…

Parent training is a critical component of behaviorally based intervention systems, such as applied behavior analysis (ABA). Although the benefits of parent education and training are well-documented, few studies have examined the effects on child learning or identified the effects of parent interventions on different degrees of generalization for…

Replication provides a confrontation of psychological theory, not only in experimental research, but also in model-based research. Goodness-of-fit (GOF) of the original model to the replication data is routinely provided as meaningful evidence of replication. We demonstrate, however, that GOF obscures important differences between the original and…

A growing body of literature suggests manipulating some graphing conventions can affect visual analysis and adherence to graphing conventions varies widely in single case design publications. Yet use of graphing conventions by the wider population of behavior analysts is largely unexplored. The current study examined relations among types of…

Operational definitions have a significant history in applied behavior analysis. The practice's importance stems from the role operational definitions play in detecting an event, human thought, or action. While operationalizing target behaviors has enjoyed widespread practice, some concerns have recently arisen with translation validity and…

Behavior analysts have been working in and with public schools for decades. However, there is a paucity of research related to their work; specifically, their roles and responsibilities and needed support. We conducted a 37-item online survey of 98 nationally certified behavior analysts who work in public schools in a Southeastern state in the…

Behavioral skills training (BST) is a performance- and competency-based training package composed of instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback. Previous reviews have demonstrated that BST is an effective training package to teach interventionists to implement behavior analytic interventions (Kirkpatrick et al. in "Journal of Behavioral…

Program evaluation is an essential practice for providers of behavior analytic services, as it helps providers understand the extent to which they are achieving their intended mission to the community they serve. A proposed method for conducting such evaluations, is through the use of a consecutive case series design, for which cases are…

Recommendations for achieving generalized instructional outcomes often overlook the capacity for generative learning for most verbally competent humans. Four children (ages 5-8) participated in this project. In Study 1, we provided decontextualized discrete trial teaching to establish arbitrary relations between colors, pictures of characters, and…

Conditioned reinforcers are widely used in applied behavior analysis. Basic research evidence reveals that Pavlovian learning plays an important role in the acquisition and efficacy of new conditioned-reinforcer functions. Thus, a better understanding of Pavlovian principles holds the promise of improving the efficacy of conditioned reinforcement…

This systematic review aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of psychological behavioral therapies to improve behaviors of autistic children during dental visits. Screening, data extraction, risk-of-bias assessment, and evaluation of certainty of evidence were performed by two independent reviewers. Eighteen studies were ultimately included. On…

Visual analysis is the predominant method of analysis in single-case research (SCR). However, most research suggests that agreement between visual analysts is poor, which may be due to a lack of clear guidelines and criteria for visual analysis, as well as variability in how individuals are trained. We developed a survey containing questions about…

Sensory-based interventions are commonly utilized by pediatric occupational therapy practitioners when working with children with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of fixed-time breaks with access to sensory stimuli on behavior that interfered with participation in pediatric occupational therapy sessions. Two boys…

Behavioral readiness can take the form of communication and self-control skills during challenging situations that are correlated with the development of problem behavior. A skill-based approach can teach behavioral readiness using procedures that involve synthesized reinforcement, probabilistic reinforcement, and contingency-based delays;…

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) focuses on providing socially significant treatments and practices. Recent advancements in ethically-minded research have encouraged practitioners to think beyond the technical skills required for implementing behavior-analytic practices and consider how these practices are delivered. Compassionate care in ABA has…