1:30-2:20 pm Room 1 1.0 BACB Type II CEU
Some Thoughts on the Relation Between Derived Relational Responding and Verbal Behavior. Jay Moore (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee).

The present paper critically examines the bold claims of Relational Frame Theory (RFT) advocates that RFT is a comprehensive approach to the phenomena referred to in traditional parlance as language and cognition, and is manifestly preferable in both scope and detail to that found in B. F. Skinner's book Verbal Behavior. Although some data do indicate a high positive correlation between derived relational responding and verbal behavior, in keeping with RFT, other data indicate at best a low correlation. The reasons for the differences between expected and actual correlations across the several data sets are not clear. We conclude that despite the value of RFT, the nature and causes of derived relational responding, as well as the relation between derived relational responding and verbal behavior more generally, remain an important area of investigation.

1:30-2:20 pm Room 2
Dramatically Improve Your Next BAAM Talk: 10 Expert Tips to Avoid "Death by Powerpoint" Jon S. Bailey (Florida State University)

Expert instruction and examples on improving visual aids in electronic slide presentations.

Do you want a better life for you and your family? Do you want a better job? This is the opportunity you needed to learn how you can attain those realistic and deserving goals.

In this presentation I will tell you how you can live better and live longer. After twenty years of research and clinical experience I realized that, like many others, I wasted too much energy trapped in painful memories (the past) and anxious thoughts (the future). That focus on a negative past and scary future drained approximately 66% of my energy. That left me limited energy, or motivation, to take care of the important things of the day (living in the present). The diagnosis was abnormal energy management, or verbal addictions caused by the abnormal use of energy formula: 33% to perform in the present, 33% in the future, and 33% in the past. That made me ineffective, anxious, and depressed. Oh, the other 1%... I do not know where it went.

While working with patients, regardless of their diagnoses I prescribed an idea that worked for me and for most of them: Live with the 9091 Formula. In other words, use 90% of energy to take care of today's important things; 9% to plan and organize for the future; and 1% to remember the lessons from the past and refrain from replicating failures. The 9091 Formula make me healthier and happier. It also has helped other individuals who completed the 9 chapter program. Concluding, the energy you wake up every day constitutes 100 percent of what you have to live with, to succeed and to enjoy. Take that 100 percent energy and invest it as suggested in the 90+9+1 above formula and you too will excel in your productivity, attitude, and happiness. This is 100% living!

WMU's Behavior Analysis Training System, a "lab" in our Behavior Analysis Program, is designed for students interested in becoming practitioners, rather than researchers. These students work with pre-school autistic children and the application of behavior analysis, behavior systems analysis, and OBM to human-services. We graduate 10-15 MA students per year and 2-3 PhD students per year. We also supervise 13-14 departmental and university undergrad honors theses per year. Every summer, we run the Behavioral Boot Camp, an intense 15-class-hours-per-week, 9-week, behavior-analysis seminar for incoming MA students. And each year, our undergrads train 100 rats to press levers , do 100 self-management projects, and provide 13,500 hours of one-on-one training for children with autistic in the ECDD classroom at Croyden Avenue School. After two years, our MA students graduate with all the courses and supervised practicum required to qualify for the BACB exam.

The Kalamazoo Autism Center. Dana Pellegrino & Richard W. Malott (Western Michigan University)

The Kalamazoo Autism Center is an independent offshoot of our work in the ECDD classroom at Croyden Avenue School. In an effort to meet the additional needs of the greater Kalamazoo community we started in October 2008 with three children and are now working with 8 children, part and full-time. And in an effort to provide early, intensive, rigorously behavioral interventions to children whose parents aren't necessarily millionaires, we are staffing the center with unpaid WMU undergrad and grad practicum students as much as possible, currently about 20 undergrad and 5 grad students. As at Croyden Avenue School, our grad research is primarily practitioner oriented, and will be illustrated with research on techniques to help three charming children acquire listener behavior.

Confessions of a Behavioral Cynic (or Everything You Know About Behavior Analysis and Autism is Wrong). Richard W. Malott (Western Michigan University)

Think behavior analytically, not common sense-ically. For example, for a non-verbal child who could care less for your approval, is louder or more enthusiastic social praise really more reinforcing? Louder and more enthusiastic may be learned reinforcers the child hasn't yet learned, not part of our genes. If a procedure won't work in training a pigeon, then we shouldn't expect it to work with a non-verbal child. If it will work with a pigeon and isn't working with our non-verbal human being, then we're screwing up big-time. If it will not work with the pigeon but will work with our non-verbal child, then fantastic, Because "Something's happening here, and what it is ain't exactly clear." And it doesn't suffice to common sense-ically say, "of course the person with the cerebral cortex will do better than those tiny-brained pigeons ˜even the non-verbal person." In what way? Why? Ban descriptive praise with non-verbal children. If you want praise to become a learned reinforcer, only use one simple word, like, "good," not a random assortment, like, "way cool," "nice job," "ain't you just precociously precious," "totally awwwwwwsome!"

2:30-3:30 pm Room 1 1.0 BACB Type II CEU
How It is Possible to be a Humanist and Scientist at the Same Time. Dennis J. Delprato (Eastern Michigan University)

I argue that the common assumption of fundamental incompatibilities between the humanities and the sciences is an outcome of an outmoded view of human psychological behavior. In the middle of the twentieth century, Feigl proposed an integrative Scientific Humanism that overcame prejudices passed on by tradition that keep the humanities and sciences apart. However, Feigl’s philosophical perspective requires augmentation in the form of a naturalistic science of psychology if humanistic and naturalistic outlooks are to be reconciled. This presentation offers J. R. Kantor’s interbehavioral philosophy and psychology as an existing framework within which psychologists can function as humanistic scientists. Important distinctions are made between self-proclaimed or inauthentic humanistic claims and authentic humanism as this thinking evolved in Hellenic culture, the Renaissance and Enlightenment, and contemporary secularism. Several features of interbehavioral psychology are shown to be compatible with authentic humanism. These include (a) recognition of the human roots of all constructs, (b) inseparability of mind-body, (c) holism over reductionism, (d) evolutional perspective, (e) humans as inevitably liked to a spatiotemporal world, and (f) human freedom as conditional.

2:30-3:50 pm Room 2
BAAM Annual Job and Practicum Fair

BAAM's annual Job and Practicum Fair will feature presentations by local and regional organizations and agencies that hire behavior analysts and sponsor practicum opportunities. Following the formal presentations, job seekers may meet with representatives of the agencies and organizations.

Advice, guidance, and hints about getting into graduate school. Will cover GRE, letters of recommendation, statement of purpose, selecting a school, masters versus doctorate, Psy.D. versus Ph.D., how many schools to apply to, meeting dates and deadlines, interviewing, and many more topics. Will include question-and-answer period.

3:30-3:50 pm Room 1
Modality Specificity in Learning and Memory in Children with Autism.  Laszlo Erdodi & Renee Lajiness-O'Neill (Eastern Michigan University)

Workshops

1:30-4:30 pm Room 4 3.0 BACB Type II CEU - Ethics
Ethical Issues in Behavior Analysis Practice and Research: A Case Study Approach. Wayne Fuqua (Western Michigan University)

Participants will demonstrate in depth knowledge of ethical standards pertaining to the practice of applied behavior analysis and clinical behavior analysis including: behavior assessment, design and implementation of behavioral interventions, workplace applications, and working with professionals from other disciplines. With the help of case studies, participants will demonstrate the application of ethical principles to specific cases and develop strategies to identify and analyze unique ethical dilemmas. Note: participants will be encouraged supply case study examples for discussion under the condition that the identity of individuals involved in the case study has been protected. In addition, participants will demonstrate knowledge of research ethics principles, including HSIRB issues, research integrity, social responsibility, and conflict of interest issues.

Presentation Type: 3-hour workshop; Thursday
Workshop Cost: $30

10:00-12:00 pm Room 4 2.0 BACB Type II CEU
Teaching Play Skills to Children with Developmental Disabilities.  Jamie McGillvary (Beaumont Hospital)

The presentation focuses on the break down of skills related to play. It also summarizes some common teaching strategies for increasing play skills in children with autism and other developmental disabilities.

Presentation Type: 2-hour workshop; Friday
Workshop Cost: $20

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Poster Session and Social
Friday, February 26, 4:00 pm

Advanced Autism Practicum. Joe Shane, Stephanie Hooper, Richard W. Malott (Western Michigan University)

The Advanced Autism Practicum is the last in a set of three practica with the goal of training undergraduate student technicians to administer Discrete-Trial Therapy to preschool-aged children with autism. Students who show exemplary skills after completing the Basic and Intermediate Autism Practica are considered for the Advanced Autism Practicum. Our practicum site is an Early Childhood Developmental Delay preschool classroom. In addition to gaining experience with this population, the Advanced Autism Practicum students write an original procedure to be implemented with the children they work with. These student technicians must detect specific skill deficits, write a procedure to address the problem, interpret the data, and write any recycle phases to make the procedure as effective as possible. The student technician is also in charge of writing sub-phases to aid in a procedure for which the child is having trouble meeting criteria for mastery of a certain phase. Additionally, the student technician gives feedback to Intermediate practicum students to assist in these student's development as technicians. Lastly, as a part of the Advanced Autism Practicum, student technicians are trained in the analysis of the children's self-injurious or problem behavior. This includes introductions to functional assessments and taking observational data.

Application of Stimulus Fading in a Behavioral Treatment Package for Severe Food Selectivity in Young Children. Kimberly E. Bancroft, Michelle E. Mastin, & Wendy A. Burdo-Hartman (Helen DeVos Children's Hospital Intensive Feeding Program)

Finicky eating is a common complaint in pediatrics. When food selectivity becomes extreme, significant health, developmental and social problems result. Positive reinforcement and attention and escape extinction are well supported in the empirical literature as effective treatments for feeding problems (Kerwin, 1999). This study examines the effectiveness of a behavioral treatment package including stimulus fading to increase oral acceptance in two children receiving treatment at a multidisciplinary intensive feeding disorders clinic. Upon admission, average oral intake of food and liquid per meal and number of consistently accepted (i.e., preferred) foods were: for Participant 1, 10.14 grams, 11.86 mL and 0 foods; and for Participant 2, 2.17 grams, 12.67 mL and 1 food, respectively. Stimulus fading was employed by first presenting dry utensils (i.e., food was absent) followed by presentation of preferred food only and then simultaneous presentation of novel/non-preferred food blended with preferred food. Food composition was gradually altered until non-preferred food was no longer combined with preferred food. Differential reinforcement and escape extinction were also employed in the intervention package. Results showed an increase food acceptance and variety in both participants. Upon discharge, average oral intake of food and liquid per meal and number of preferred foods were: for Participant 1, 113.89 grams, 100.19 mL and 13 foods; and for Participant 2, 84.93 grams, 123.56 mL and 15 foods, respectively. These findings provide preliminary evidence to support the use of stimulus fading as part of a behavioral treatment package to increase oral acceptance in children with severe food selectivity.

Behavior Analysis and Behavior Change Plans: A Tool for Teachers of Students with Emotional Impairment. Karen J. Carney (Eastern Michigan University)

Behavior analysis is a key skill for future special educators who conduct Functional Behavior Assessments and Behavior Intervention Plans. Selected students from Eastern Michigan University's Special Education - Emotional Impairment program will present data describing their successes with changing the inappropriate behavior of students with whom they have worked.

Behavior Analysis Training System (BATS). Kelly Stone & Richard Malott (Western Michigan University)

This is a recruitment poster for the graduate training program under the direction of Dr. Richard Malott at Western Michigan University. The BATS program is based on the service provider/practitioner model, and has a strong emphasis in the area of autism. The overall goal of the Behavior Analysis Training System is to facilitate the improvement of the quality, accuracy, and timeliness of the overall system by improving performance within and across all subsystems through increasing system accomplishments, minimizing disconnects, timely responding, and improving the quality and accuracy of system products.

Clinical Features of Depression That Change as a Function of Behavioral, Cognitive and Medication Interventions. Lauren Conkright & Richard Spates (Western Michigan University)

This poster will present data derived from 3 randomized trials of empirically supported therapies for the treatment of depression. It will highlight changed observed in the factorial components of the Beck Depression Inventory consisting of Cognitive, Affective and Somatic features of depression. This mega analytic review compares two medication interventions consisting of one evidence based protocol and a Treatment As Usual (TAU) approach in Community Mental Health, along with two computer treatments for depression that have shown initial efficacy, as well as two face to face therapies including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Behavioral Activation Therapy. The data are summarized in terms of overall global findings for these factorial comparisons, but in addition will examine outcomes for those patients whose initial trends in depression prior to treatment was worsening. This analysis points the way toward identifying therapies most suitable for some of the most difficult to treat patients with Major Depressive Disorder in such a way as to guide the focus of those interventions to clinical relevant targets.

A Comparison of Simplified-Visual and Traditional Presentation Styles. John Christensen & Douglas A. Johnson (Western Michigan University)

Microsoft PowerPoint and similar presentation tools have become commonplace in higher education, yet there is very little research on the effectiveness of PowerPoint and different formats for implementing this software. This poster will present data on a comparison of two PowerPoint presentation techniques: a more traditional format employing heavy use of bullet points and text and a newer format referred to as the Simplified-Visual Approach, which utilizes frequent visuals and minimizes on-screen text. These approaches were compared using a quasi-experimental between-groups design to analyze the impact of these two formats on college student satisfaction and learning outcomes. Overall, there were no differences in learning outcomes, although the Simplified-Visual Approach did significantly improve satisfaction.

Evaluation of Verbal Behavior in Older Adults. Amy Gross, Wayne Fuqua, Todd Merritt & Erica Kasemodel (Western Michigan University)

Approximately 5% of adults over 65 years old suffer from some form of dementia (Kempler, 2005), a condition affecting memory and other cognitive functions, one of which is language. Skinner's (1957) analysis of verbal behavior may lend itself to assessment methods that will identify specific verbal behavior deficits, which, in turn, may lead to more specific treatment recommendations. The purpose of this study is to evaluate verbal behavior in older adults. The research will address two questions: 1) As language deteriorates, does it do so in a pattern compatible with Skinner's functional verbal operants? 2) In what way do verbal behavior problems differ between older adults with and without cognitive impairment? Researchers will evaluate 30 participants, 15 with and 15 without cognitive impairment (additional data to be collected). Based on Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior, researchers developed a series of assessments and will administer them to participants on two occasions separated by one week. Results will reveal the consistency across repeated assessments and across different verbal operant classes, and differences in performance between the groups. Using Skinner's framework of verbal behavior may provide for evaluation of specific verbal behavior deficits, which may allow for more individualized intervention methods.

GRE Preparation Course. Tareyn L Moss, Amanda Kowalski, Tim Obertein, Richard Malott (Western Michigan University)

The GRE Prep course is designed to increase the number of students who do well on the GRE and are accepted into graduate school. We monitor student performance, provide deadlines and specify point contingencies to help ensure students spend time studying for the GRE and researching graduate schools.

Increasing Spontaneous Eye Contact in an Early Childhood Developmentally Delayed Preschool Classroom. Amanda Kowalski & Richard Malott (Western Michigan University)

The focus of this case study was to increase eye contact in the absence of prompts. An AB design was used to assess the frequency of spontaneous eye contact with a three-year-old child diagnosed with autism. The child was selected from an Early Childhood Developmentally Delayed (ECDD) classroom in Southwest Michigan. In order to increase spontaneous eye contact a highly preferred item was first selected (DVD player). After unprompted eye contact was made, the DVD player was presented for 30-60 seconds. The requirement for duration of eye contact was increased over time. Additionally, once unprompted eye contact was established, high probability tasks were introduced and eye contact was required both preceding and following task presentation in order to gain access to the DVD player. Previous attempts to increase eye contact using auditory and visual tracking techniques (i.e. "Look at me." Or calling the child's name) in a discrete trial format were unsuccessful. The focus of the study was eye contact as it was a necessary prerequisite skill to target deficits in the child's repertoire.

Increasing Vocalizations in a Child with Autism using a Stimulus-Stimulus Pairing Procedure. Joseph Shane & Richard Malott (Western Michigan University)

The child who participated in this intervention was a two year old male diagnosed with autism. He was receiving services in a classroom serving children with Early Childhood Developmental Delays (ECCD). The subject had no functional verbal behavior at the beginning of the intervention, and his vocal behavior consisted of repeating a limited number of sounds (primarily only one sound) for what was assumed to be maintained by automatic reinforcement. The goal of this intervention was to increase the number of different vocalizations that the subject would reliably emit. A secondary benefit of this intervention was to decrease certain repetitive vocalizations. Contingent upon a successful first phase, the intervention was then shifted to a basic mand training phase. The first phase of the intervention was a stimulus-stimulus pairing procedure designed to increase the frequency of target sounds, and establish an automatically reinforcing property for those sounds. Following this phase, the new sounds were established as mands, using a basic mand training procedure. The intervention took place in the child's normal school environment.

Institution to Community: The Re-Integration of Adults with Severe and Profound Mental Retardation Utilizing Behavior Analytic Techniques. Laurie Weatherup (Washtenaw County Community Support and Treatment Services) & Amy Zacharski (Eastern Michigan University)

The push to de-institutionalize individuals with Mental Retardation began in the 1960's. This brought about the challenge of successfully integrating these individuals into the community, regardless of the severity of their behaviors or functioning level. Over the past thirty years many behaviorally based programs have been developed utilizing Behavior Analytic principles with proven success. In September of 2009, the last inpatient facility in the state of Michigan for the Developmentally Disabled population closed. Over the past several years, Washtenaw County Community Support and Treatment Services has successfully integrated six individuals into the community using Behavior Modification Techniques. This presentation will review the literature supporting ABA with the MR population in community settings, as well as present two individuals who were released in 2007. These individuals have diverse Axis I and II diagnoses and had differential circumstances for admission. Problematic behaviors addressed in both settings include: physical aggression, property destruction, non-compliance, food stealing, stripping, and self-injurious behavior. The data will show ABA techniques have successfully decreased the frequency and/ or severity of target behaviors without the use of punishment techniques. Additionally, this presentation will demonstrate the increase in their adaptive skills as well as their quality of life by comparing their daily living and vocational abilities in the institution versus the community.

Mand Training. Dana Pellegrino & Richard Malott (Western Michigan University)

Children with autism often have defective mand repertoires and this can interfere with further instruction if not addressed in the beginning of treatment. Echoic behavior can be used to train manding through the use of a transfer across operants procedure. This study used an echoic-to-mand training procedure to develop the manding repertoire of a three year old child with autism. Baseline was collected in October 2008 when the child began therapy at the Kalamazoo Autism Center. She had essentially no vocal behavior, as determined by a verbal language assessment. After several months in the program, she acquired a generalized imitative repertoire and eventually echoic behavior consisting of simple phonemes. The echoic-to-mand procedure was implemented in August 2008. After several weeks, it was determined that the child's echoic skills were not reliable enough to fade out the echoic prompts so quickly, thus the procedure was modified. The original procedure, however, was successful with two other children at the center. This study offers support for echoic to mand transfer procedures for children who exhibit reliable echoic behavior.

Practical Considerations for Function-Based Treatment at an Early Childhood Developmentally Delayed Pre-School Classroom. Matthew T. Brodhead, Kristen Gaisford, Woan Tian Chow, Breanne Hartley, Richard W. Malott (Western Michigan University)

This case study describes methods used to develop a function based treatment plan for a child with autism at an Early Childhood Developmentally Delayed (ECDD) pre-school classroom. Functional Communication Training and Non-contingent Reinforcement procedures were developed by the authors, and classroom staff and other service providers from the school made modifications to the child's curriculum and occupational therapy procedures. Various changes were made to the treatment plan after it was implemented, primarily to enhance its effectiveness, and secondarily, to meet the needs of the ECDD classroom procedures. Supervision protocols and techniques were also modified throughout the program in order to obtain procedural continuity between tutors who implemented the protocol. Final modifications to the project involve finding a balance between function based treatment procedures and meeting the child's educational goals. Practical considerations for providing behavioral services in a multi-disciplinary setting are addressed, along with future considerations for a practitioner approach to function based treatment in this setting.

Reducing Problem Behavior in an ECDD Classroom. Joseph Norcross, Amanda Kowalski, Tialha Nover, & Richard W. Malott (Western Michigan University)

The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate the power of behavior analysis in reducing problem behavior in an ECDD classroom. One child was identified to have high levels of problem behavior that interfered with learning. We conducted a functional assessment to identify the function of the problem behavior. Tutors were videotaped running sessions of discrete trial training with child, and descriptive data was collected and analyze to identify possible functions of the problem behavior. After implementing the intervention, tutors collected probe data to test the effectiveness of the intervention strategies, which included reinforcing prompted responses, tutor training, and removal of lessons for which the child did not have the appropriate prerequisite skills. We then videotaped the tutors again to collect post-intervention data. Using a withdrawal design, we determined which of the intervention strategies were responsible for the reduction in problem behavior.

Self-Management. Dru Millerwise, Matt Brodhead, Amanda Vig, Shena Williams & Richard W. Malott (Western Michigan University).

Self-Management is an undergraduate psychology course as well as a subsystem within the Behavior Analysis Training System at Western Michigan University. The goal of Self-Management is to help students gain self-management skills that can be applied to academic and non-academic tasks as well as their everyday lives. The course is a one credit class that meets for 1.25 hours once a week. Students earn points contingent upon behaviors listed on their task verification forms (TVF); these aid in eliminating procrastination by holding the students accountable with proof of academic task completion. Students are also responsible for completing a self-management project that focuses on increasing or decreasing a behavior that improves the quality of their life. Students share tactics, techniques, and procedures during class discussion that aid in the success of their projects. Student activities include completing performance contracts and TVFs, demonstrating proof of their accomplished tasks, and presenting performance graphs.

Transfer of Matching Skills to Receptive Skills. Kelly Stone & Richard Malott (Western Michigan University)

Listener skills are difficult skills for many children with Autism Spectrum Disorder to acquire. However, matching to sample is a skill that is taught early in the intervention and is usually mastered quickly. The purpose of this study was to see if a transfer from matching to sample to the receptive identification of 3D objects can be achieved. The study was done with a 3-year-old child diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder who displayed excellent matching skills, but was deficit in receptive identification of objects. Baseline data was collected, and then a matching procedure implemented using the item name and the sample stimulus as the discriminative stimuli. The sample stimulus was then faded out to transfer the matching skills to receptive skills. Data was collected for each trial. This study will be beneficial in demonstrating an effective transfer of skills across operants, and can be used for other children who have achieved matching skills but have not yet displayed receptive skills.

What Naïve Consumers Learn on the Internet and in Bookstores about Autism Treatments. Shane A. Lash (Nelsonville-York High School) & Lisa M. Todd (Wayne State University School of Medicine)

Autism treatment in children can take many different forms, most of which are unlikely to be effective. The reasons why parents or guardians should not try to choose a treatment without professional guidance will be explored in this poster presentation. In order to better understand the information that consumers are likely to find when they use the Internet and commercially available books as their primary resources, several people who are uninformed about autism and the available treatment options will search for treatment information during a 1-week period. They will make help-seeking decisions based on the information they find and that information will be presented and discussed in this poster presentation.

White Noise as a Sleep Aid for College Students. Melany Desrochers (Central Michigan University) & Laura Lasley (Central Michigan University)

The purpose of the study was to examine the effects that continuous white noise during the night had on the sleep patterns and mood of college students. The study allowed the participants to choose a decibel level (dB) that was comfortable for them to sleep with. The participants for this project were chosen because they met the following criteria: taking longer than 30 minutes to fall asleep and/or waking more than once a night at least 5 nights a week. The participants kept track of their naps, nighttime sleeping, overall mood, and any unusual circumstances in a provided sleep diary. After a period of eight weeks, the participants were evaluated on any changes in sleep and mood they experienced and they assessed the effectiveness of the white noise machines. The results revealed that white noise was effective in decreasing the number of night wakings and increasing positive mood for all participants. The results also revealed that the decibel levels chosen by the participants were lower than the recommended level for past studies. These results are unique and contribute to the previous literature that evaluates the use of white noise as a sleep aid.

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