Gina Green

An Assessment of Food Acceptance in Children with Autism or Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified

Some children with autism and pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) have been reported to have atypical feeding behavior, such as sensitivity to food texture and selective preferences for particular foods. No systematic studies of feeding behavior in this population have been published. Munk and Repp (1994) developed methods for assessing feeding problems in individuals with cognitive and physical disabilities that allow categorization of individual feeding patterns based on responses to repeated presentations of food. In this study, we systematically replicated the Munk and Repp procedures with children with autism and PDD-NOS. Thirty children, ages 3 to 14 years, were exposed to 12 food items across 6 sessions. Food acceptance, food expulsion, and disruptive behavior were recorded on a trial-by-trial basis. Approximately half of the participants exhibited patterns of food acceptance, indicating selectivity by food category or food texture. Others consistently accepted or rejected items across food categories. Whether these patterns of food acceptance are atypical remains to be determined by comparison with the feeding patterns of typically developing children and other children with developmental delays.

Cost–benefit estimates for early intensive behavioral intervention for young children with autism—general model and single state case

Clinical research and public policy reviews that have emerged in the past several years now make it possible to estimate the cost‐benefits of early intervention for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with autism or pervasive development disorder—not otherwise specified (PDD—NOS). Research indicates that with early, intensive intervention based on the principles of applied behavior analysis, substantial numbers of children with autism or PDD—NOS can attain intellectual, academic, communication, social, and daily living skills within the normal range. Representative costs from Pennsylvania, including costs for educational and adult developmental disability services, are applied in a cost‐benefit model, assuming average participation in early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) for three years between the age of 2 years and school entry. The model applied assumes a range of EIBI eAects, with some children ultimately participating in regular education without supports, some in special education, and some in intensive special education. At varying rates of eAectiveness and in constant dollars, this model estimates that cost savings range from

Relational Learning in Stimulus Sequences

187,000 to

An analysis of generalized identity matching-to-sample test procedures

203,000 per child for ages 3‐22 years, and from

Implications of fast mapping for vocabulary expansion in individuals with mental retardation

656,000 to

Stimulus Equivalence, Generalization, and Contextual Stimulus Control in Verbal Classes

1,082,000 per child for ages 3‐55 years. DiAerences in initial costs of

THE EFFECTS OF REINFORCER CHOICE ON RATES OF CHALLENGING BEHAVIOR AND FREE OPERANT RESPONDING IN INDIVIDUALS WITH SEVERE DISABILITIES

33,000 and

Licensing behavior analysts: risks and alternatives.

50,000 per year for EIBI have a modest impact on cost‐benefit balance, but are greatly outweighed by estimated savings. The analysis indicates that significant cost-aversion or cost-avoidance may be possible with EIBI. #1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A Primer on Professional Credentialing: Introduction to Invited Commentaries on Licensing Behavior Analysts

This paper proposes a new analysis of generative performances derived from contingencies that establish the production of stimulus sequences. Neither simple chaining nor within-sequence conditional stimulus control can account for the production of novel, untrained sequences that have been the outcomes of a number of experiments. The alternative analysis we propose focuses on relations among stimuli within sequences and across sequences trained independently of one another, and behavioral tests that evaluate whether such relations possess the properties of an order relation (i.e., asymmetry, transitivity, and connectedness). Our approach is an extension of Sidman’s analysis of relations among stimuli in equivalence classes. It provides a framework for examining how equivalence and order relations interact to yield extensive repertoires of novel behaviors that occur under appropriate circumstances. The concepts and procedures we present outline a behavior analytic approach to studying aspects of phenomena like syntactic development and transitive inference.

Three important things to consider when starting intervention for a child diagnosed with autism.

This paper examines issues that must be considered when evaluating generalized identity matching to sample. We suggest that (a) stimuli displayed together on tests of generalized identity matching should have comparable experimental histories, and (b) identity matching procedures should be differentiated as either “conditional” or “nonconditional,” depending upon whether or not conditional discrimination is required. Although either type of procedure might be adequate for demonstrating a “matching concept,” we suggest that only generalized conditional identity matching provides an adequate test for the reflexive property of conditional relations.