Wilkenfeld and McCarthy’s 2020 article, “Ethical Concerns with Applied Behavior Analysis for Autism Spectrum ‘Disorder’,” is part of a growing line of peer-reviewed articles that are critical of interventions based on the principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA) for autistics/individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Throughout this article, the authors make claims that ABA-based intervention is abusive, coercive, and results in negative outcomes (e.g., Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) for autistic/individuals diagnosed with ASD utilizing a bioethics framework. More specifically, the purpose of this article is to provide an analysis and discussion of Wilkenfeld and McCarthy’s rationales and conclusions by highlighting areas of agreement and concern, and those requiring additional clarification. We hope this analysis will help continue progressing the field of ABA-based interventions for autistic children and their families, advance discussions among behavior analysts and their consumers, and underscore pathways forward for all involved.

Research demonstrates that in order to implement a successful behavior analytic intervention, one must first identify the maintaining contingencies of the target behavior. Descriptive assessments are the most commonly used functional assessment used by behavior analysts (Oliver et al., 2015), although, comparative research further supports the use of analog functional analyses over descriptive assessments. As a way to assess the components of descriptive assessments to increase their accuracy, antecedent-behavior-consequence (ABC) assessments and functional analysis procedures were used to analyze the key components of descriptive assessment and were then verified with the implementation of a function-based intervention. Results indicated that conditional probabilities from the antecedent condition were verified as the function in the functional analysis and treatment. Implications for clinicians and researchers are reviewed.

In recent years, social media has experienced tremendous expansion within the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA), presenting numerous advantages. Social media serves as a conduit for connecting behavior analysts across the world, facilitating easier dissemination of information. Additionally, social media provides a valuable platform for advocacy and a venue for professional discourse, thereby enhancing collaboration and knowledge sharing within the ABA community. Despite these benefits, the surging popularity of social media within ABA brings forth legitimate concerns. These concerns have the potential to yield serious implications. As such, this paper highlights some of these concerns. To address and mitigate these potential risks, the paper offers actionable solutions and ethical guidance tailored specifically for behavior analysts navigating the dynamic landscape of social media. By recognizing the challenges inherent in social media and providing informed strategies, this paper seeks to promote a responsible and ethical approach to the integration of social media in the practice of behavior analysis.

This study compared the use of delivering a single instruction (e.g., Who is it?) versus varied instructions (e.g., What's their name? Who is this? What about this one?) when teaching three children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) novel expressive label targets via direct telehealth. The present investigation utilized an adapted alternating treatments design nested into a multiple probe design, to teach participants to expressively label pictures of cartoon characters using either a single instruction or varied instructions. The goal of this study was to evaluate the acquisition, effectiveness, and efficiency of the two different procedures for each participant. The results demonstrated that while students learned all targets in both conditions, skill acquisition rates were slightly higher for the majority of participants using varied instructions via telehealth.

The overwhelming majority of professionals who serve the autistic community using applied behavior analysis (ABA) do so from a place of caring and compassion to improve the quality of life for the individuals they serve. As researchers and practitioners, the authors feel it is essential to acknowledge concerns that have arisen from neurodiversity activists and their families surrounding the effects of ABA on the autism population and claims that the goals and strategies in ABA are ableistic. This paper will highlight major issues neurodiversity advocates have reported regarding ABA, examine areas considered to be ableistic, and discuss ways ABA has positively impacted society while emphasizing the importance of listening and responding to expressed concerns of stakeholders.

Researchers and interventionists, particularly behavior analysts, have a long history of empirically evaluating and clinically implementing interventions related to stereotypic behaviors for autistics/individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Despite evidence of the effectiveness of these procedures in decreasing stereotypic behaviors and establishing adaptive competing repertoires, some neurodiversity activists have increasingly expressed concerns about interventions related to stereotypic behaviors. The purpose of this paper was to recognize some of the issues raised by various sources, underscore the importance of including consumers in the selection of goals and methods of intervention from a social validity perspective, discuss balancing concerns with the right to effective behavioral treatment, and consider areas of overlap, reconciliation, and discourse. We urge behavior analysts to continue to include relevant consumers in the selection of goals and intervention, ensure effective behavioral treatment, and approach addressing stereotypic behavior from a place of compassion and caring for our clients.

Identifying the maintaining contingencies of problem behavior can lead to effective treatment that reduces the occurrence of problem behavior and increases the potential for the occurrence of alternative behaviors. Many studies use descriptive assessments, but results vary in effectiveness and validity. Comparative research further supports the superior utility of analog functional analyses over descriptive assessments, but clinicians continue to report the consistent use of descriptive assessments in practice. Direct training on the recording of descriptive assessments as well as the process for interpreting the results are limited. The absence of research-based guidance leaves clinicians to interpret the results as they see fit rather than following best practice guidelines for this critical activity. This study examined the potential impact of direct training on several components of descriptive assessment: the recording of narrative antecedent-behavior-consequence data, interpretation of the data, and the selection of a function-based treatment. Implications for training and practice are reviewed.

Research addressing food selectivity has involved intrusive techniques such as escape extinction. It is possible that observational learning methods employed in previous studies could provide the desired results with respect to food selectivity without the need for invasive physical interventions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an observational learning procedure on the selection of food items of three children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Baseline consisted of a simple task after which a choice was presented between high- and low-preferred foods. The intervention consisted of observing an adult engage in the same task and selecting the low-preferred food while making favorable comments and engaging with the food in novel ways. The results of a reversal design demonstrated that selection of the low-preferred food only occurred following the introduction of the intervention, and all three participants engaged in flexible responding as a result of the intervention.

The Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB®) created a third level of certification, the Registered Behavior Technician™ (RBT®) in 2014. The RBT® was created based upon the requests of stakeholders who wanted to credential those individuals who make direct contact with clients under the supervision of a Board Certified Behavior Analyst®. There has been tremendous growth in the number of RBTs® with over 60,000 individuals certified to date. The BACB® recently sent out a newsletter outlining changes to the RBT® certification, including the processes of training, supervising, and becoming an RBT®. These changes represent a number of potential concerns. The purpose of this paper is to highlight these concerns and to propose solutions to improve the RBT® certification.

To determine the effects of response-reinforcer arrangements on task performance and preference, participants completed tasks on accumulated and distributed response-reinforcer arrangements. Three males diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder completed tasks before receiving 5-min or 30-seconds access to a preferred stimulus. To enhance discrimination between the two arrangements, color-coded token boards were used to represent each arrangement. Responding was evaluated within a multielement design to compare the response rate across conditions for each participant. A preference assessment was conducted after the comparison to determine whether a preference for one of the arrangements emerged. All participants produced a higher rate of responding in the accumulated schedule of reinforcement.

Baer, Wolf, and Risley (1968) indicated technological was one of seven core dimensions of applied behavior analysis (ABA). They described this dimension as being met if interventions were described well enough to be implemented correctly. Often in the applied settings, a behavior plan is the method by which interventions are communicated to staff and parents for implementation. The necessary components of a behavior plan have been discussed in relation to compliance with regulations (e.g., Vollmer, Iwata, Zarcone, & Rodgers, Research in Developmental Disabilities 13:429-441, 1992), in school settings (e.g., Horner, Sugai, Todd, & Lewis-Palmer, Exceptionality: A Special Education Journal 8:205-215, 2000), and other applied settings (e.g., Tarbox et al., Research in Autism Spectrum Disorder 7:1509-1517, 2013) for the last 25years. The purpose of this research is to review the literature regarding components of behavior plans and synthesize it with a recent survey of behavior analysts regarding essential components of behavior plans. The results are discussed in light of training, treatment fidelity implications (i.e., Registered Behavior Technician Task List), public policy development (e.g., state initiative for a single behavior plan template), and research opportunities (e.g., comparison of different visual structures).

Purpose Kupferstein (2018) surveyed 460 respondents and found that 46 percent of respondents met the diagnostic threshold for posttraumatic stress disorder after exposure to applied-behavior-analysis-based intervention. The purpose of this paper is to provide an evaluation a critical analysis of Kupferstein (2018) including the experimental methods and discussion of the results. Design/methodology/approach The authors evaluated the Kupferstein’s methodological rigor with respect to the use of hypothesis testing, use of indirect measures, selection of respondents, ambiguity in definitions, measurement system, and framing of the experimental question when conducting the correlational analysis in addition to Kupferstein’s analysis and discussion of the results. Findings Based upon the analysis, Kupferstein’s results should be viewed with extreme caution due to several methodological and conceptual flaws including, but not limited to, leading questions used within a non-validated survey, failure to confirm diagnosis, and incomplete description of interventions. Originality/value It is the authors’ hope that this analysis provides caregivers, clinicians, and service providers with a scientific lens which will useful in viewing the limitations and methodological flaws of Kupferstein.

Two children with autism were assessed for preference between intersession distribution of mastered and unknown instructional trials on a computerized matching-to-sample task consisting of 12 total learning opportunities. Choice responses yielded presentation of either massed-trial sequencing (six unknown/six mastered stimuli relations or vice-versa) or alternating-trial sequencing delivery (alternation of unknown and mastered stimuli relations) followed by reinforcement for correct responses. An extinction condition served as an experimental control. Both children demonstrated a preference for the alternating-trial sequencing condition, and implications for instructional programming and possible effects to delays to higher rates of reinforcement are discussed.

The present study evaluated the effects of reinforcer magnitude and quality on preference for continuous and discontinuous arrangements. Two preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) participated in the study. Both participants initially preferred a discontinuous arrangement when choice options included the same quality and magnitude reinforcers; however, magnitude and quality manipulations resulted in a change in preference for continuous arrangements.

Recent research has demonstrated that some participants prefer to complete a larger series of responses in exchange for a longer duration of reinforcer access, rather than completing fewer tasks associated with smaller, but more frequent, reinforcer access. This review provides a summary of this line of research, examines variables contributing to participant preference and performance under different response-reinforcer arrangements, and discusses limitations and areas for future research.

An individuals’ autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other intellectual disabilities often have significant challenges with the acquisition and generalized use of many aspects of language, social interaction, and play skills. Children without appropriate play language are at risk for not developing the friendships and social relationships that undergird the development of more complex play and social behavior. Overcoming this barrier requires a set of effective instructional practices, and matrix training procedures is one instructional format that has an extensive and effective literature in this domain. For individuals with language and social skill challenges, matrix training-based interventions provide treatment procedures focusing on the production and generalized use of language as an essential component of the intervention. Matrix training provides a structure for teaching and demonstrating specific combinations of responses (vocal and/or motor) which increases the probability that untrained combinations of those responses will emerge in the absence of explicit training. Matrix training refers to a set of procedures or instructional arrangements designed to support what is often referred to as generative learning or recombinative generalization. For those working with children with ASD and who are tasked with creating and implementing efficient instruction this is critical to effective and timely treatment to address this core challenge. Knowledge and effective use of Matrix training procedures should be considered an essential area of competency.

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is a science and, therefore, involves progressive approaches and outcomes. In this commentary we argue that the spirit and the method of science should be maintained in order to avoid reductionist procedures, stifled innovation, and rote, unresponsive protocols that become increasingly removed from meaningful progress for individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We describe this approach as progressive. In a progressive approach to ABA, the therapist employs a structured yet flexible process, which is contingent upon and responsive to child progress. We will describe progressive ABA, contrast it to reductionist ABA, and provide rationales for both the substance and intent of ABA as a progressive scientific method for improving conditions of social relevance for individuals with ASD.

Children with autism and other disabilities frequently do not eat a variety of foods, eating only a few very specific foods. Additionally, many children are extremely resistant to trying different foods and attempts to introduce new foods often result in problem behaviors. This can have serious health implications for some children, as the foods they eat may not provide sufficient nutrients. Food refusal can also be extremely stressful for parents, and while effective strategies supported by research exist, these may be difficult for parents to implement. Our recent work with picture activity schedules suggests that this may be an easy to implement and viable alternative to other more complex procedures. We describe a case study in which introduction of a picture activity schedule significantly increased the types of foods eaten by a young boy with autism, and we offer suggestions for parents and educators interested in implementing such picture schedules.