Facing Autism in NB Highlights Morris on Gernsbacher

Facing Autism in New Brunswick provides a good perspective on autism and aba from a person who is not an aba-professional nor an aba-focused academic. This recent post highlights Edward Morris' critique of "The Gernsbacher Lectures", which Morris argues misrepresent behavior analysis:

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Autism and ABA: Morris's (Unanswered) Challenge to Gernsbacher Will Be Featured at CalABA Annual Conference 2010

Edward K. Morris is scheduled to give
what should be a fascinating keynote speech at the 28th Annual Regional
Conference of the California Association for Behavior Analysis. Professor
Morris's topic will be The Gernsbacher Lectures: Cut Aways, Outtakes, and
Bloopers - and Essentialism. The CalABA conference is scheduled for February 18
to 20, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency in Irvine California.

Professor Morris published a scathing article in the Behavior Analyst, A Case Study in the Misrepresentation of Applied Behavior Analysis in Autism: The Gernsbacher Lectures, in which he thoroughly, systematically and candidly dissected and demolished her criticisms of ABA.

To my knowledge Professor Gernsbacher has not provided a public reply to
Professor Morris's challenge .... [click for more]

Another good Kazdin article in Slate

Dr Kazdin has an occassional series on behavior, especially issues regarding child behavior.

The following does a good job addressing an issue many ABA folks have a hard time addressing -- the roots of many of our treatments in basic (read: often animal" research:

Like a Rat

Animal research and your child's behavior.

By Alan E. Kazdin and Carlo RotellaPosted Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009, at 1:23 PM ET

Psychologists who work with children and families tend to avoid mentioning to parents that the treatments they use are often based on research done on animals. It's no secret that the widely used technique of the timeout was developed in studies on rats or that important early research leading to treatments for anxiety in humans was done on dogs, cats, and other species—but the subject doesn't come up a lot in conversation. We will confess to doing our bit to perpetuate this professional shyness about animal research by tiptoeing around it in our Slate pieces and in the book we wrote together. Why?... (click to continue reading)

Token Economy Spotted In The Wild!

SAT., AUG 29, 2009 - 10:14 AM

'Behavior bucks' bloom into garden at school entrance

By GAYLE WORLAND
608-252-6188

gworland@madison.com

When students at Lindbergh Elementary enter their building Tuesday for the first day of school, they’ll pass by new flowering plants and prairie grasses that, in a way, they grew with their own generosity.

It all started with “behavior bucks,” small green slips of paper that serve as currency at the North Side school.

Invented last year by Lindbergh staff, the bucks were designed to curb discipline problems. And the program worked. For a gesture of kindness, children earned a buck on the spot. Perpetual rule-breakers won a buck for obeying the rules. Some made a buck simply by paying attention in a class they normally disrupted ....

Now, I don't know if its a perfect implementation, although the ability to donate 'bucks' to charity is a neat idea. In any case, (apparent) effective use of structured motivational systems by non-behavior analysts deserves support (such as letters to the editor of the State Journal or encouraging emails to the school, hint, hint).
--mjw

ARTICLE URL: http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/top/463770

Children With Disabilities Spanked More Often

As a behavior analyst, how would you talk about this with coworkers, parents, or teachers?

Disabled Students Are Spanked More
By SAM DILLON
Published: August 11, 2009
More than 200,000 schoolchildren are subjected to physical punishment each year, and disabled students get a disproportionate share, according to a new study.

Applied behavior analysis and evidence-based practice

Facing Autism in New Brunswick often posts commentary regarding autism treatment from a parent's perspective, and is a strong proponent of applied behavior analysis as an evidence-based treatment. The current post examines the difference between evidence-based treatments and those lacking evidence -- and the attraction of the latter.

Readers may find Facing Autism thought provoking. The posts are generous in their openness -- please, check it out. (The blog also presents strong opinions on issues like vaccinations and autism and neurodiversity advocates; WisABA does not currently have a position on these issues.)

Behavioral Parenting How-To's

Alan Kazdin, Ph.D., wrote a fine book on single-subject research design and is a past president of the American Psychological Association. More importantly, he writes well and knows what he's talking about.

Slate (the online magazine) is running a series of articles on parenting and problem behaviors written by Kazdin for the general reader (these are not research articles, which is great). Two of the articles are "The Messy Room Dilemma" and "Tiny Tyrants". Please, check them out!

Autism research blog

As most folks reading this are probably aware, autism is an active area for behavior analysis -- for both research and clinical work. I subscribe to the Autism Research Blog: Translating Autism partially because new behavioral research is likely to pop up from time to time. The latest post concerns research into using "cognitive-behavioral therapy" for children diagnosed with autism and anxiety (note that the participants were labelled "high-functioning", suggesting that children without the verbal skills thought necessary for CBT were not involved in the study).

Click here to read about it.

Precision Teaching

For those who keep hearing the term and want more info: http://precisionteaching.pbwiki.com/

So, precision teaching folks out there -- is this a good resource or not? Go ahead and comment.