Treatment integrity has cogent implications for intervention effectiveness. Understanding these implications is an important, but often neglected, undertaking in behavior analysis. This paper reviews current research on treatment integrity in applied behavior analysis. Specifically, we review research evaluating the relation between integrity failures and the efficacy of behavioral interventions. Avenues for future research are provided.

Observational learning is an important area in the field of psychology and behavior science more generally. Given this, it is essential that behavior analysts articulate a sound theory of how behavior change occurs through observation. This paper begins with an overview of seminal research in the area of observational learning, followed by a consideration of common behavior analytic conceptualizations of these findings. The interbehavioral perspective is then outlined, shedding light on some difficulties with the existing behavior analytic approaches. The implications of embracing the interbehavioral perspective for understanding the most complex sorts of behavior, including those involved in observational learning are considered.

No abstract

No abstract

This study evaluates the effectiveness of a variation of the high-probability (high-p) sequence involving bites of food as high-p tasks on the acceptance of low-probability (low-p) foods in an adolescent with autism spectrum disorder. After demonstrating the effectiveness of the high-p sequence using a reversal design, the participant's mother implemented the intervention. Intervention effects were partially maintained during 7-month maintenance probes. Implications for research and practice are provided.

The present study evaluates the treatment acceptability and preference for behavioral interventions for feeding problems with parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and other developmental disabilities. The impact of behavioral severity on acceptability and preference was also evaluated by comparing results of parents who responded with respect to a vignette of a child with food refusal with those who responded to a vignette of a child with food selectivity. Overall, parents rated differential reinforcement of alternative behavior as the most preferred and most acceptable strategy across both food selectivity and food refusal groups. Escape extinction was the least acceptable and least preferred across both groups, and the severity of the behavior had no impact on acceptability or preference scores. Implications for future research on the social validity of feeding interventions are provided.

Studies have evaluated a range of interventions to treat food selectivity in children with autism and related developmental disabilities. The high-probability instructional sequence is one intervention with variable results in this area. We evaluated the effectiveness of a high-probability sequence using 3 presentations of a preferred food on increasing acceptance in a child with autism who refused a few specific foods. The high-probability sequence increased acceptance of 3 foods. We then systematically faded the intervention for 2 foods.

The present study evaluates the effects of two variations of the high-probability (Hi P) instructional sequence with a child with autism spectrum disorder. In one variation, the Hi P task was topographically similar to the low-probability task of food consumption, whereas the second variation involved Hi P tasks that were not topographically similar to the low-probability task. Results show that both variations of the Hi P sequence were effective at improving consumption and reducing inappropriate mealtime behavior. The participant's mother chose a preferred variation of the Hi P intervention to pursue systematic fading with, the topographically similar Hi P sequence. Consumption remained high and inappropriate mealtime behavior remained low throughout the fading process. Implications for continued research and practice in the area of feeding intervention are provided. KEYWORDS autism spectrum disorder, dietary variety, feeding problems, food selectivity, high-probability instructional sequence