Behavior analysis is the scientific study of behavior. Radical behaviorism is the worldview of behavior analysts and this perspective drives how we think about behavior, assess the influences on behavior, and develop strategies to change behavior. There is evidence that some behavior analysts are using interventions that are not conceptually consistent with foundational principles, which results in using treatments not based on strong scientific evidence of effectiveness, and thus, are less effective and potentially harming the client. The reasons for this drift (from radical behaviorism) could be due to inadequate training in our philosophy, poor supervision, persuasion, and financial contingencies, among others. To maximize positive impact on the consumer, and to stay true to scientific roots, behavior analysts must adhere to the worldview of behavior analysis and radical behaviorism. By doing so, one’s work will be based on science, and thus will protect our science and, more importantly, the consumer.

Autistics/individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) commonly display qualitative impairments in social behavior that commonly result in the use of interventions directly targeting the development of social skills. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for effective social skills interventions that can be delivered directly via telehealth. The Cool Versus Not Cool procedure has continually been documented as effective within the literature. However, its reported use has been limited to in-person delivery. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Cool Versus Not Cool procedure conducted via telehealth to teach three children diagnosed with ASD to change the conversation when someone is bored. The results of a nonconcurrent multiple-baseline across-participants design demonstrated that all three participants reached the mastery criterion in four to eight sessions. Responding generalized to another adult for two of the three participants, and all three participants maintained correct responding. Social validity measures indicated the skill was important to teach, the intervention was acceptable and effective, and the telehealth format was an acceptable replacement for in-person intervention for these three participants.

New, unsubstantiated therapies for individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that lack empirical support for their effectiveness seem to be introduced almost daily. These unproven therapies should be subjected to the methods of applied behavior analysis to experimentally evaluate their effectiveness. This study provides an empirical evaluation of a popular device, fidget spinners, that have been marketed as improving focus for individuals diagnosed with ASD. Four young children diagnosed with ASD participated; two receiving intervention and two peers not receiving intervention. The effects of the fidget spinner on auditory conditional discriminations were evaluated using a reversal design. The results indicated the fidget spinner was ineffective at improving auditory conditional discriminations for both participants. Following the ineffectiveness of the fidget spinners, a behavioral intervention was provided which resulted in improvements in auditory conditional discriminations for both participants.

Prompts are commonly used during discrete trial teaching for individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Three commonly used prompting systems include constant time delay, most-to-least prompting, and flexible prompt fading. Most of the research demonstrating the effectiveness of these three prompting strategies have been completed through the use of single subject experimental designs. Some within the field of behaviorally based approaches to ASD interventions have called for more randomized clinical trials of these approaches. The purpose of the present study was to compare these 3 prompting systems to teach tact relations for 27 individuals diagnosed with ASD through a randomized clinical trial without a control group with respect to pre-post responding, generalization, sessions to mastery, and responding during teaching. Overall, minimal differences were observed across the 3 systems. The results are discussed with respect to future research and clinical application of the methods evaluated.

Current practice guidelines suggest that the assessment and treatment of challenging behavior should consist of conducting a functional behavior assessment following the onset of problem behavior. This assessment process can include indirect and direct assessment, as well as manipulation of variables to determine function. The purpose of this article is to outline a proposal that would add prevention practices to early intervention guidelines for problem behavior. Based on decades of research, the suggestion is to proactively teach children at risk for problem behavior to navigate four of the most common conditions that have been demonstrated to occasion problem behavior. Prevention is made a possibility because a large body of research examining the conditions under which challenging behavior occurs has been reliably replicated. Preventative approaches are an emerging phenomenon and reflect a progression in the practice of behavior analysis. Prevention may lead to acquisition of prosocial behavior before problems arise, to expedited and enhanced treatment, to increased access to favorable learning environments, and, we hope, to improvement in the quality of life for many children at risk for the development of problem behavior.

Token systems often involve a predetermined number of tokens required prior to exchange for a terminal reinforcer. The effectiveness of token systems implemented in this manner has been well documented within the literature; however, some have discussed the possibility of a fixed earning requirement creating a context in which the learner no longer emits the desired behavior once the terminal number is achieved. A possible alternative to a fixed earning requirement is selecting the earning requirement based upon learner responding and leaving the requirement unknown to the learner until the moment of exchange. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a token system with a flexible earning requirement to increase the frequency of comments during snack for 3 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. The results of a nonconcurrent multiple-baseline design demonstrated the flexible token system was effective at increasing the rate of comments in addition to the cumulative number of novel comments.

This study compared 2 methods of fading prompts while teaching tacts to 3 individuals who had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The 1st method involved use of an echoic prompt and prompt fading. The 2nd method involved providing multiple-alternative answers and fading by increasing the difficulty of the discrimination. An adapted alternating-treatments design showed that both procedures were more effective than a no-intervention control condition. Providing multiple alternatives did not increase error rates or teaching time, and better maintenance was shown for tacts taught with the multiple-alternative prompt.

Individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder often display deficits in social skills. While research has shown behavioral interventions to be effective in teaching and/or increasing a variety of appropriate social skills., limited research has shown generalization of these skills to the natural setting. The Teaching Interaction procedure was used to teach social skills to four children with autism. In addition, a fifth participant was utilized; this participant did not receive the Teaching Interaction intervention, and was utilized as a control. Results indicated the Teaching Interaction procedure was effective in teaching new appropriate social skills, of different topographies, that generalized to untrained social interactions in the participants' natural environment.

Given the increasing rates of autism, identifying prompting procedures that can assist in the development of more optimal learning opportunities for this population is critical. Extensive empirical research exists supporting the effectiveness of various prompting strategies. Constant time delay (CTD) is a highly implemented prompting procedure that has been researched widely, and demonstrated as effective and efficient. A second approach, flexible prompt fading (FPF) has not been empirically tested but has been a part of numerous behavioral studies [Lovaas, O. I. (1987). Behavioral treatment and normal educational and intellectual functioning in young autistic children. Journal of Clinical and Consulting Psychology, 55, 3–9; Soluaga, D., Papovich, S., Leaf, J., McEachin, J., Leaf, R., & Taubman, M. (2003). Instruction in social competencies utilizing a social skills taxonomy for persons with autism (databased presentation). Paper presented at the National Conference of the National Association for Behavior Analysis, San Francisco, CA]. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of CTD and FPF in teaching receptive skills for five children with autism. A parallel treatment design demonstrated that, overall, the FPF procedure produced better results in terms of individual mastery of targets and global mastery of all targets and comparable results were seen in terms of efficiency for the two prompting procedures.

This study assessed the effectiveness of a Teaching Interaction procedure for four social skills across three participants diagnosed with autism. All social skills fell into four broad domains (i.e., social-communication, play, emotion skills, and choice/selection skills). In addition, a teaching package was used to increase communication between the three participants and three selected target peers. The teaching package consisted of the Teaching Interaction procedure, reinforcement, and priming of participants to demonstrate social skills and to engage with their target peers. Prior to intervention, participants displayed near zero levels of the four social skills that were targeted; after intervention, all three participants were able to demonstrate these skills. Prior to intervention, participants did not communicate or play with their selected target peer; after intervention, participants were able to increase the amount of play and communication. A multiple baseline design showed that the teaching package was effective in teaching both the targeted social skills and in increasing the development of initial associations that could lead to friendships for three children diagnosed with autism.