This book responds to a critical need for highly qualified personnel who will become exemplary professionals because of their advanced knowledge, skills, and experiences in working with students and adults that have varying disabilities, including Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Since Board Certification for behavior analysts was introduced,…

Functional communication training, an intervention for challenging behavior rooted in principles of applied behavior analysis, has copious empirical support dating back to the mid-1980s for autistic individuals. Recently, there has been a concerted effort to thin reinforcement delivery during functional communication training using…

This book responds to a critical need for highly qualified personnel who will become exemplary professionals because of their advanced knowledge, skills, and experiences in working with students and adults that have varying disabilities, including Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Since Board Certification for behavior analysts was introduced,…

Over recent years, the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA) has trended toward increased focus on improving the ethics and social validity of behavior analytic interventions. As part of this shift, ABA researchers and practitioners have begun to call long-held practices into question and seek alternative options. Despite their evidence base,…

Despite an abundance of research on interventions to improve social skills of young children with intellectual disabilities (ID), there is limited research on interventions aimed at improving social skills of adults with ID. The purpose of this single-subject study was to evaluate the outcomes of the Behavioral Opportunities for Social Skills…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) spend the majority of their lives as adults, and psychosocial interventions show promise for improving outcomes in this population. This research conducted a systematic review of all peer-review studies evaluating psychosocial interventions for adults with ASD. A total of 1,217 studies were…

Recent research on teaching mands for information to children with language deficits has focused on manipulating establishing operations (EOs). However, only a few of those studies have programmed both EO conditions (in which information is needed) and abolishing operation (AO) conditions (in which information has already been provided) to ensure…

People who have both autism spectrum disorder and complex communication needs require specialized, multidisciplinary interventions and supports to boost their independence and quality of life. Find up-to-date, evidence-supported information and strategies in this book, the newest volume in the respected Augmentative and Alternative Communication…

Staff training is a critical performance improvement objective within behavioral health care organizations. This study evaluated a systematic training program for teaching applied behavior analysis knowledge competencies to newly hired direct-care employees at a day and residential habilitation services agency for adults with intellectual and…

We describe a training program to teach applied behavior analysis (ABA) knowledge competencies to paraprofessional staff (N = 47) at a habilitation services agency for adults with developmental disabilities. Before and following training, staff completed assessment of knowledge tests for three content areas: basic learning principles,…

This paper presents an objective review, analysis, and comparison of empirical studies targeting the behavior of adults published in Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) and Journal of Organizational Behavior Management (JOBM) between 1997 and 2001. The purpose of the comparisons was to identify similarities and differences with respect to…

Different beliefs exist about the ability of individuals with mental retardation to recognize certain social roles or relationships appropriate for the acquisition of critical skills for successful social development. In particular, a major social skill is conversational proficiency. The purpose of this study was to look at the concept of…

This review defines supported employment, presents a rationale for it, describes four types of placement models, outlines supported employment program components, and analyzes effectiveness and populations served. The contributions of applied behavior analysis to supported employment are examined. (JDD)

This evaluative review describes the history of applied behavior analysis in the area of developmental disability and its strengths and weaknesses. Emphasis is placed on the fact that behavior analysis can continue to provide valuable insights into the education and treatment of people with mental retardation. (Author/CR)

The Adult Prosocialness Behavior Scale (APBS) is most often used to measure adult prosociality. We conducted a reliability generalization meta-analysis to compute the average APBS reliability and examine the heterogeneity among reliability estimations and the influence of moderator variables. An exhaustive search identified 74 articles that…