REFLECTIONS ON 40 YEARS IN ABA SAUL AXELROD

REFLECTIONS ON 40 + YEARS IN ABA SAUL AXELROD TEMPLE UNIVERSITY EMERITUS

THE EARLY YEARS MAJORING IN MATH AT TEMPLE UNIVERSITY. BEING A COMPUTER PROGRAMMER AT GENERAL ELECTRIC FOR FOUR YEARS – THE DARK YEARS. STUDYING PSYCHOLOGY AND SPECIAL EDUCATION AT FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY.

The Early Years ØA WORD ABOUT BEING IN SPECIAL EDUCATION…. Ø SPECIAL EDUCATION BELIEVES IN USING AN INDEPENDENT VARIABLE AND THAT INDEPENDENT VARIABLE IS INSTRUCTION. Ø THIS MAY NOT BE TRUE FOR REGULAR EDUCATION.

The Early Years ABA AND THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS IN 1970. THE PIONEERS OF ABA. THE UNIQUENESS OF VANCE HALL AS AN ABA - HIS BACKGROUND AND HIS WORK. THERE WAS SOMETHING DIFFERENT ABOUT VANCE’S WORK AND HIS PERSONALITY.

The Early Years DOING A POST- DOCTORATE AT THE JUNIPER GARDENS CHILDREN’S PROJECT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS IN 1970 WITH VANCE HALL - THE LIGHT YEAR.

Career Goals GOALS I SET FOR MY CAREER AS AN ACADEMICIAN…

Career Goals 1. MAKE COMPLEX MATERIAL AS EASY TO UNDERSTAND AS POSSIBLE. 2. DISSEMINATE INTERVENTIONS THAT ARE POWERFUL AND EASY TO APPLY. 3. HELP MAKE ABA INTO A MAINSTREAMED REGULAR – EDUCATION METHODOLOGY.

Career Goals 4. HAVE ABA BE A PART OF EVERY FUTURE TEACHER’S PROGRAM AT TEMPLE. My preference for teaching introductory and undergraduate classes.

POSITIONS I HAVE HELD THE UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT 19701972.

POSITIONS I HAVE HELD FORTY HAPPY YEARS AT TEMPLE UNIVERSITY FROM 1972 - 2011.

A WORD ABOUT THE IMPACT OF STUDYING MATH ON MY CAREER IN ABA…

HOW IS BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS UNIQUE? IT IS BASED ON THE PRINCIPLES OF BEHAVIOR THAT B. F. SKINNER EXPLICATED IN 1938 AND 1953. • Remarkably, these principles are largely unchanged ( Hineline, 2012)…. • That doesn’t mean the principles are easy to apply in a systematic and enduring manner….

HOW IS BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS UNIQUE? • Harnessing the principles can be very difficult…. This is basically what ABA’s do. • The problem is often temporal discounting …. The tendency of behavior to be more under the control of short- term contingencies rather than long - term contingencies.

HOW IS BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS UNIQUE? • Meanwhile, if Skinner got it right, this is a major challenge to many other scholars of many fields. . . • Skinner had a lot of chutzpah!

HOW IS BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS UNIQUE? Ø IT SOMETIMES USES A SINGLE – SUBJECT OR A SMALL NUMBER (N) OF SUBJECTS IN ITS RESEARCH. . • A better descriptor than single subject or small N research designs might be within - subject replication designs.

HOW IS BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS UNIQUE? MY RECOMMENDATION ON CHOOSING A GOOD RESEARCH DESIGN…. WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS HOW WELL THE STUDY IS DESIGNED AND WHAT THE TREATMENT EFFECT IS.

HOW IS BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS UNIQUE? IT USES DIRECT AND CONTINUOUS MEASUREMENT PROCEDURES. ◦ One of the benefits of this is that we can quickly change our procedures if they prove to be ineffective. This benefits the people we serve.

HOW IS BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS UNIQUE? IT IS SELF CORRECTING. ◦ Continuous measurement helps to create a self – correcting feedback loop. We may make mistakes, but eventually get things right.

HOW IS BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS UNIQUE? TWO ASIDES ON SINGLE- SUBJECT DESIGNS AND CONTINUOUS MEASUREMENT….

HOW IS BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS UNIQUE? Ø IT LARGELY IGNORES INFERENTIAL STATISTICS. • The question asked in inferential statistics is whether the difference in scores is due to instability in the data or to the effects of the treatment? • We ask whether the problem has been solved, or has the quality of life improved? This requires human judgment….

HOW IS BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS UNIQUE? IT ACHIEVES EXTERNAL VALIDITY ONE SUBJECT AT TIME, OVER MANY STUDIES, NOT THROUGH ONE STUDY. • We can say that we learn about one subject will likely be true of many subjects. • We can also say that there is an order to human behavior.

HOW IS BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS UNIQUE? Ø IT VALIDATES THE IMPORTANCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL. • We do FBA’s; we do reinfocer assessments; we take data on the effects of different conditions; we do experiments within an individual. . ; we have intensive training programs often involving only one individual….

HOW IS BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS UNIQUE? We tell you how an intervention worked on each subject rather than giving data on the average person’s scores… similar to practicing medicine effectively.

HOW IS BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS UNIQUE? IT IS VERY OPTIMISTIC. • Look at the problems were are willing to deal with…often remarkably effectively.

HOW IS BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS UNIQUE? WITH ALL OF THESE DIFFERENCES IN OUR APPROACH, IT IS NOT SURPRISING THAT SO MANY PROFESSIONALS REJECT OUR PRACTICES. NOT MANY PEOPLE WANT TO HAVE THEIR CAREERS INVALIDATED.

AREAS OF ENCOURAGEMENT Ø 1. NEW GRADING SYSTEM FOR HOSPITALS. Ø 2. INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION ACT MANDATES THE USE OF FUNCTIONAL BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENTS and BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS Ø 3. THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM. .

AREAS OF ENCOURAGEMENT Ø 4. MANY OTHER AREAS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION IN ADDITION TO AUTISM. Ø 5. INDIA IS EXPERIMENTING WITH A PROGRAM THAT GIVES INCENTIVES FOR DRIVING DURING NON- PEAK HOURS.

AREAS OF ENCOURAGEMENT 6. SOME EVENTS IN REGULAR EDUCATION – ◦ Classroom Management…. ◦ Academic Instruction if the teaching materials are immersed in computerized technology, such as Headsprout. 7. SMOKING CESSATION PROGRAMS…. ◦ …. They often include functional behavioral assessments.

AREAS OF ENCOURAGEMENT 8. DRUG ADDICTION TREATMENT, BUT…. 9. WEIGHT CONTROL RESEARCH. HERE IS WHAT IS INTERESTING ABOUT 6 -9….

AREAS OF ENCOURAGEMENT 10. THE FIELD OF ECONOMICS….

AREAS OF CONCERN REGULAR EDUCATION ABA is mostly about the teaching process, so what’s the problem? It is largely philosophical…. Philadelphia schools of poverty…

…CONCERNS – REGULAR ED. My review of 3 years of two of the most prestigious regular - education journals – Teachers’ College Record and American Educational Research Journal. I looked at three measures • whether the studies used ABA techniques; • whether the studies used any instructional procedure, at all; • if not, did the studies examine the effects of any independent variable?

…CONCERNS – REGULAR ED. • The outcomes…. • This doesn’t mean that regular education teachers are not using ABA procedures. They often are, especially in the area of classroom management.

…CONCERNS – REGULAR ED. • Regular – education teachers often use high rates of praise and have prizes for appropriate behavior. • My students experiences in observing in classrooms…. A question my students would ask me… • The problem we have is not so much with regular- education teachers, but with regular – education academicians.

AREAS OF CONCERN GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY … • The notable absence of ABA programs in Psychology programs at the most elite universities. When BA is mentioned…. • The APA website on classroom management…. By avoiding the principle of positive reinforcement, Psychology is rejecting itself. • This is interesting, given certain facts about Skinner….

DISCUSSION ISSUES POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORTS. • It is now in more than 18, 000 US schools, including the general education - classes my grandchildren attend…. • It is now in the Temple teacher education curriculum. • It is in IDEA and in many state policy documents for educating individuals with disabilities.

DISCUSSION ISSUES PBS ( continued) • My own conflicted view ….

DISCUSSION ISSUES AUTISM AND ABA • This is our best work, and it should continue… • But it does create an conundrum…. We need to be more involved in other areas, particularly regular education…

DISCUSSION ISSUES THE EVOLUTION OF SPECIES. THE EVOLUTION OF BEHAVIOR…. • If there is a principle that unites physical science and behavioral science, it is: • EVERYTHING COMES FROM SOMETHING ELSE. NOTHING COMES FROM NOTHING. • Behavior Analysis is consistent with that principle. Other approaches are not…

SO WHERE DO WE STAND? AS WE APPROACH THE 60 th ANNIVERSARY OF JEAB AND THE 50 th ANNIVERSARY OF JABA, WHERE DO WE STAND? • We are a small group, but a tenacious group…. We are willing to put up with a lot. There will always be a core of us…. • We will stick around. We might even prevail, if we keep chipping away.

THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSON TO TAKE FROM ABA BETTER PERSON THROUGH APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS…

TIME TO SHOW OFF LIFE CONSISTS OF A LONG CHAIN OF BEHAVIORS, AND IF YOU ARE LUCKY, THIS IS THE POSITIVE REINFORCER AT THE END OF THE CHAIN.

TIME TO SHOW OFF

THANK YOU!