Evolving discourse about autistic individuals swims in murky territory, with ongoing debates over how the autistic community should represent itself and how the neurotypical population should engage with them. One tendency that has emerged is the depiction of autistic individuals as kind and well-intentioned but also simpleminded and guileless.…

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…

The number of credentialed behavior analysts has been growing exponentially as the field tries to keep up with the demand for credentialed professionals. As the field continues to grow and expand, behavior analysts have found higher demand for their expertise not only in clinical settings but school settings as well. There is little information…

Joint attention (JA) is a pivotal prelinguistic skill critical to developing language and social repertoires. This behavior is often absent or delayed in children with autism spectrum disorder, commonly resulting in problematic communicative consequences. Behavior-based interventions have been used to teach autistic children to initiate and…

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…

Many students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) need evidence-based intervention in school, and applied behavior analysis (ABA) offers an array of treatment options shown to improve outcomes. However, in Michigan, ABA has not been thoroughly integrated into public schools. The present dissertation assessed the mechanisms thought to…

An overview of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in the Middle East was published by Kelly and colleagues in 2016. The focus of the review was to explore clinical services, educational opportunities, and published research in the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, namely the Kingdom of Bahrain, the…

Rising Autism diagnosis rates have prompted numerous awareness campaigns, treatment programs, social-emotional learning initiatives, research institutes, etc. Developing analogously, the Neurodiversity movement--an activist-led social justice movement focused on equity and justice for neurodivergent people--has presented compelling critiques of…

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;…

Open science practices are designed to enhance the utility, integrity, and credibility of scientific research. This article highlights how preregistration in open science practice can be leveraged to enhance the rigor and transparency of single-case experimental designs within an applied behavior analysis framework. We provide an overview of the…

Feeding difficulties occur at a high rate in children with normal development and at a disproportionally high rate in children with developmental disabilities. Prolonged problematic eating, categorized as Pediatric Feeding Disorder (PFD), can result in poor physical growth and jeopardize overall health. Extant research on applied behavior analysis…

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…

Due to the myriad of complex decisions that BCBA candidates must make, both in academic and clinical settings, the use of Equivalence Based Instruction (EBI) and Relational Frame Theory (RFT) in concept instruction may aid in the ability to make such decisions which require derived relational responding across arbitrary dimensions (Roessger et…