Certification, Licensing, & Ethics in Behavior Analysis

PSY 4600 Unit 8Certification, Licensing, & Ethics Schedule Tuesday, 4/09 and Thursday, 4/11: Lecture Tuesday, 4/16: Exam Monday, 4/15: Instructional Assistance, 7-9 pm

End of semester schedule Thursday, 4/18 Return of E8 Special grade sheet Can you benefit from taking ME2? If so, how many points do you need for the next highest grade? ME2 study objectives No lecture Wednesday, 4/24: Make-up Exam 2, 2:45-4:45 Units 5-8 Be here at 2:45 Remember you cannot start the exam after a student has left the room with the answers: you will receive a zero Tuesday, 4/23: Instructional Assistance 7:00-9:00

Unit materials Credentialing in behavior analysis Dickinson article (2018) Ethics Martin & Pear (2015), Chapter 30, Ethics Van Houten et al. (1988), Right to effective behavioral treatment Skinner (1978), The ethics of helping people Hanley et al. (2005), On the effectiveness of and preference for punishment and extinction components of function-based interventions OPTIONAL: Wolf, Risley, & Mees (1964), Application of operant conditioning procedures to the behavior problems of an autistic child

NFE: Intro to Credentialing in BA Purpose of Credentialing Protect the public from individuals representing themselves as competent in a field, when they are not Credentialing does not indicate that a person is a “star”, it simply means that a person is “competent” in their field Two Types of Credentialing in Behavior Analysis Certification, overseen by the Behavior Analysis Certification Board Nonprofit organization that is separate from ABAI, our main professional organization Licensing, overseen by individual states Who is covered by certification and licensing Applied behavior analysts who work with at-risk populations If you work in human services, you need to be certified and, if relevant for the state you work in, licensed In a few states, all behavior analysts who work in applied settings with humans are required to be licensed (at this point in time, 25 states have license laws, in a moment, laws do vary from state to state; not EAB regardless of whether your work involves humans or nonhumans)

SO1: Two differences: Certification vs. Licensing Two differences between certification and licensing Certification is voluntary while licensing is legally required Requirements for certification are the same from state to state and globally while the requirements for licensing vary from state to state These two differences arise because of the agencies that oversee each Behavior Analysis Certification Board Individual states (However, while requirements differ from state to state, they are, for the most part similar, although there are some notable exceptions; It is also the case that the requirements for licensing tend to be the same or at least similar to the requirements for certification; so if you become certified, you typically meet the licensing req. Some states you must be cetified in order to be licensed; but that is not typically the case)

NFE, but WHY Requirements for certification and licensing are similar Certification predated licensing National certification began ~1998, licensing began ~2009/2010 BACB anticipated licensing and developed and posted a “model” license law on its web site to assist states States: why re-invent the wheel when a professional organization had already developed standards and an exam? Certified behavior analysts were typically the ones who advocated for license laws and spearheaded their adoption, thus brought the model license law to the attention of the legislators

NFE: Four levels of Certification Registered Behavior Technician (new 2014) Front-line staff who implement behavior plans Because it is new, most human service agencies do not yet require staff to be certified I anticipate that in the future, they may require staff to become certified, probably within a certain time period after hire Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst: BCaBA Board Certified Behavior Analyst: BCBA Board Certified Behavior Analyst-Doctoral: BCBA-D (Talk a bit about certification: MA vs. Ph.D: program accredited/approved by ABAI or dissertation; not really a separate credential – extension Independent practitioners who provide BA services; most relevant to you at this point, BCaBA and BCBA, but before I do, I Will just touch on the requirements for the RBT, you could become an RBT at this point in your careers – anyone in class?)

NFE: Requirements for RBT Age requirement: at least 18 years old Degree requirement: high school diploma Training: complete a 40-hour training program based on the RBT task list developed by the BACB Pass a competency assessment, developed by the BACB, based on observation of skills by a BCaBA, BCBA, or BCBA-D Pass the RBT certification exam

SO2: Four categories of requirements for BCaBA & BCBA 1. Educational degree from an accredited university BCaBA: BA degree BCBA: MA degree 2. Specific number of course hours in behavior analysis BCaBA: 180 course credit hours BCBA: 270 course credit hours 3. Specific number of supervised hours by a BCBA BCaBA: 1000 hours independent fieldwork BCBA: 1500 hours independent fieldwork 4. Pass the relevant certification exam (Different hours supv depending upon intensiveness of supervision; details change rather frequently as the BACB upgrades requirements: so no details, visit web site; must meet the first three before you can take the exam )

SO3: Educational Requirements for BCaBA and BCBA 1. BCaBA: Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university Specifically, bachelor’s degree from an accredited university - does not have to be in behavior analysis or psychology 2. BCBA: Master’s degree from an accredited university Specifically, master’s degree from an accredited university (a) in behavior analysis, psychology, or education, or (b) from a program with an approved BACB course sequence (Only the first line is required for the SO)

NFE: requirements for BcaBA and BCBA at WMU 1. BCaBA Our undergraduate behavioral science major curriculum has been approved by the BACB to fulfill all course requirements in behavior analysis To complete the supervised hour requirement, students must take PSY 2517 as an elective and complete the required number of hours See Dr. Jon Baker in our department for details 2. BCBA Our behavior analysis graduate curriculum has also been approved by the BACB to fulfill all course requirements in behavior analysis for the BCBA Like the undergraduates, to complete the supervised hour requirement, students must take electives and complete the required number of hours (sometimes do this by working in a human service setting in addition to their course work) (As I indicated earlier, a certain number of course credit hours in behavior analysis is required for both the BCaBA and the BCBA – 180 or 270 ; ABA in Austim & DD; so the good news is that both our undergrads and graduate students can be eligible to take the relevant certification exam after completing our programs –many of our graduate students get their BCBA while they are still in the graduate training program; QUESTIONS?)

NFE: Why license laws? 1. To protect at risk-individuals seeking behavior analytic clinical services 2. To accompany autism insurance laws that have recently been passed, specifying and regulating the individuals who can receive insurance reimbursement 3. Some behavior analysts believe license laws should protect all consumers, not just at-risk individuals (also protecting the field in general) 4. Some believe that we will not achieve the same status as other professionals (doctors, licensed clinical psychologists) unless we are licensed (I am now moving onto licensing: Given certification, why do we also have licensing? certification is voluntary; licensing is legally required – more teeth; first two are the main ones; 2012 MI; Employees, athletes, college students, etc.; because of these differing views, two broad category of laws; license laws typically have two levels of licensing that correspond to the BCaBA and BCBA)

SO4: Two types of laws 1. Restrictive laws (relates to first 2 reasons) Only behavior analysts who provide clinical services to individuals need to be licensed, for example Those who work with children/adults diagnosed with autism Those who work with individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities Those who work with seniors with dementia 2. Broad title and practice laws (relates to all 4 reasons) You cannot call yourself a behavior analyst (title) or practice behavior analysis (practice) unless you are licensed (in general, two types of laws, although one state has a “title” law; first type relates to the first 2 reasons on the previous slide, the last type relates to all four reasons; Wisconsin; NY; most laws include mental health parity for other relevant professionals who are credentialed in their specialization – see the article)

NFE: States that have each type (according to Dr. D) Restrictive laws: 19 states Alabama, Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington Michigan passed a restrictive law in 2016 although it will not take effect for a while yet The license board has been established and is developing procedures/processes for application, review, and oversight Broad title and practice laws: 6 states Arizona, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, Vermont, Wisconsin (I could very well be wrong; it is hard to interpret the laws; talk more about this in the article)

NFE: Future trend for restrictive vs broad title and practice laws Seventeen laws were passed within the last three years: all were restrictive, but one (Vermont) Due to revision of the BACB model license law in 2012, that included wording for the exclusion of applied behavior analysts who provide non-clinical services, and explicitly OBM practitioners and applied animal trainers Seems to be the trend (although again I could be wrong)

NFE: Implications for you If you are planning on a career in human services You need to be certified You need to be licensed in states that have license laws If you are planning on a career in other applied behavior analysis areas You do not need to be certified If you work/move to a state that has broad title and practice law, you need to be licensed Check with the licensing board and behavior analysis association in that state to determine if you need to be licensed (Right now, for example, most OBM professionals are not certified; don’t deal with a vulnerable population and task list and exam really are focused on clinical work/methodology. Two issues emerge: need and relevancy. Questions?)

SO5: Unintended and vexing result of certification and licensing Unintended result of certification and license laws is the belief by many in the field that the terms “behavior analysis” and “applied behavior analyst” refer only to clinical services (autism) and those who work with at-risk populations Simply not true Many areas of specialization in behavior analysis and many applied behavior analysts Organizational behavior management Traffic and pedestrian safety Community behavior analysis (sustainability) Health and wellness Sports psychology (Sensitive issue for many of us. Term BA is being coopted by those who work with at-risk individuals; In a sense, understandable-behavior analysis versus our IOBM program; Cannot call certified BA or licensed BA, but that gets lost in translation; If you go into HS, don’t forgt that the rest of us are BA as well! Questions over certification or licensing? Move on to ethics; reason for covering c&l, does relate to Ethics – developed to protect individuals who cannot protect themselves)

NFE: Two assumptions of the systematic application of behavioral principles 1. Behavior can be controlled Science of behavior can be used to help humanity Science of behavior can be used to harm humanity 2. It is desirable to control behavior to achieve certain objectives (Moving onto ethics; Martin & Pear; what are ethics from a behavioral perspective and why we need ethical guidelines and monitoring of the use of this very powerful science and technology of behavior; no pussyfooting Around – we need to acknowledge that behavior can be controlled and it is desirable to control behavior…)

SO7: Why did (does) “behavior modification” evoke negative and outright hostile reactions from people? 1. Cultural history in which power, specifically political power by tyrants, dictators and monarchs, has been abused across history and around the world 2. Personal experiences with those who have abused power (at school, at work, in cults, perhaps even at home) (The notion of control is a very sensitive and controversial issue. Yet it is essential to accept the two assumptions I just talked about in order to change behavior in positive ways. People object to our field because we accept those Assumptions; but why have people over the years objected so strongly? People have abused power – 2 reasons Next slide also on this)

NFE: These negative reactions were made worse in the early 1970s These early reactions were made worse by the tendency to erroneously equate behavior modification and behavior analysis to procedures like electroconvulsive shock therapy, brainwashing, and torture. In 1970s, over a 5-year period, the NY Times reported that the term behavior modification was used incorrectly 50% of the time. The movie “Clockwork Orange” in 1971 almost did us in!!

SO8: Define ethics from a behavioral perspective Certain standards of behavior that a culture develops to promote the survival of that culture Example: In most cultures, respect for the possessions of others is reinforced, and stealing is punished. Why? In prehistoric cultures, stealing may have resulted in so much in-fighting, members of a culture (a tribe) became vulnerable to invasions by other cultures. That is, members may have killed each other leaving them vulnerable to attack by other tribes, or voluntarily left join other trives so that the original culture (tribe) did not survive. On the other hand, cultures that reinforced respect for the possessions of others survived. (Skinner, SHB 1953, Beyond Freedom and Dignity 1971,; sometimes codified Into legal contingencies, sometimes religious principles, back up a bit and explain)

Variation and natural selection operate at three levels Biological evolution – morphological features and “innate” behavioral tendencies Shaping of operant behavior -reinforcement and punishment Selection of cultural practices —some increase the survival of that culture and are transmitted culturally Ethics and values NFE: cultural selection of ethics and values

Direct instruction (parents, schools) Modeling (media) Religious and secular rules and laws NFE: How are ethics and values acquired and transmitted in a culture?

NFE: Religious codification Jewish and Christian, Ten Commandments: Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not commit adultery Thou shalt not steal Thou shalt not bear false witness Thou shalt not covet neighbor’s wife, house, animals, etc. Buddhism, Five Precepts (basic morality): Refrain from taking life Refrain from taking that which is not given (not stealing) Refrain from sensual (including sexual) misconduct Refrain from lying Refrain from intoxicants which lead to loss of mindfulness

NFE: Religious codification Islam, Moral commandments, Quran Be kind, honourable and humble to one’s parents Be neither miserly nor wasteful in one’s expenditures Do not engage in mercy killings for fear of starvation Do not commit adultery Do not kill unjustly Care for orphaned children Keep one’s promises Be honest and fair in one’s interactions Do not be arrogant in one’s claims or beliefs (not a coincidence that many of these resemble each other – no matter what the culture, violation leads to problems in the culture/group that can decrease its survival; cultural anthropology – Marvin Harris)

NFE: Why do we need ethical guidelines? Behavior can be controlled Immediate reinforcers can influence a person to behave in ways that lead to aversiveness or harm to others e.g., Stealing is reinforced by possession of the goods, loss of the goods is aversive to the victim • Ethical guidelines help offset immediate reinforcers for behavior • that is harmful to others and help to control the behavior of • controllers • e.g., Study objective 6: Constitutions, bills of rights, and other such political • documents can be viewed as formal specifications of contingencies designed • to control the behavior of those who control the behavior of others

SO9: Is all control unethical? It is sometimes argued that all control is unethical. Why, upon a little reflection, doesn’t this argument make sense? The goal of any social help professional can only be achieved by exerting control over behavior Teachers can only teach children to read by changing their behavior Drug addiction counselors can only get addicts clean by changing their behavior Behavior analysts can only get autistic children to successfully interact with the world and learn new skills by changing their behavior Sports psychologists can only get athletes to improve their skills by changing their behavior OBM practitioners can only get managers to be better managers by changing their behavior (Because of abuse power and personal experience with people who have abused power, some argue that all attempts to control behavior is unethical…common criticism of our field; behavior modification; go on to make the point that control is ubiquitous, and when left to chance sometimes things go horribly wrong)

SO11: What is Countercontrol? Countercontrol is the reciprocal of control; it is the influence the controllee has on the controller by having access to suitable reinforcers (and punishers) Citizens vote politicians out of office Workers unionize Protestors organize rallies From a behavioral perspective, countercontrol is the most fundamental and effective safeguard to ensure individuals and groups are treated ethically. (Freedom riders, Black Lives Matter, MeToo, Stoneman Douglas)

SO12: Why is it that the authors state that the best way to develop effective countercontrol throughout society is to spread their skills as widely as possible and help educate people about behavior modification? It should be difficult to use behavioral science to the disadvantage of any group whose members are well versed in the principles and tactics of behavior modification (behavior analysis) Why? Because people who are well versed in behavior analysis can develop effective forms of countercontrol

NFE: Countercontrol and Ethical Guidelines When individuals lack meaningful forms of countercontrol, the culture/group (sometimes) creates safeguards (arranges contingencies) to ensure ethical treatment Ethical guidelines for behavior analysts working with at-risk individuals (monitored by the BACB and profession) Loss/suspension of certification Loss/suspension of license Ombudsman and Office of Student Conduct at WMU Students can complain to the ombudsman about a faculty member without retaliation Students can only be charged with academic dishonesty after a hearing with an unbiased panel overseen by the OSC (This is a bit repetitive at this point, but….I am going to move on to the Van Houten article – any questions on this material?)

SO13: Right to effective treatment and restrictiveness It is unacceptable to expose an individual to a restrictive procedure unless it can be shown that such a procedure is necessary to produce safe and clinically significant behavior It is equally unacceptable to expose an individual to a nonrestrictive procedure if assessment results or research indicate that other procedures would be more effective An individual is entitled to effective and scientifically validated treatment. Selection of treatment should be consistent with the philosophy of the least restrictive but effective treatment (both italicized terms are critical). Therefore: (one of the first set of ethical guidelines for behavior analysts; generated by controversy surrounding the use of punishment; one of the most important things in this article, statement with respect to what determines the overall restrictiveness of a procedure; 2nd point for the exam; often neglected.)

NFE: But consider slow-acting “nonrestrictive” procedures Slow-acting nonrestrictive procedures could be considered highly restrictive if prolonged treatment: Increases risk An autistic child’s head banging can lead to very serious injury A child with pica can swallow a life-threatening object/liquid A child that bites can hurt himself, his siblings, his parents Inhibits or prevents participation in needed training programs (because of aggressive behaviors toward others) Delays entry into a more optimal social or living environment (hospitalization vs. a group home or living at home) Leads to a adaptation to the treatment and eventual use of a more restrictive procedure For samples of severe self-injurious behaviors, see youtube.com The videos are very disturbing. (may not have thought about this, but you must consider all of the effects of alternatives; SR may Be more restrictive than SP; the ethical nature of a decision/treatment cannot be judged in isolation; increased physical risk is the one that people think of most often, but there are others)

NFE: Conclusion re “nonrestrictive” and “restrictive” procedures In some cases, a client’s right to effective treatment may dictate the immediate use of quicker acting, but temporarily more restrictive procedures.

SO14: What determines overall restrictiveness? 1. Absolute level of restrictiveness Restraints, medication, versus behavioral interventions Behavioral interventions: use of antecedents vs. consequences, reinforcement vs. extinction vs. punishment 2. Amount of time required to produce an acceptable outcome 3. Consequences associated with interventions that have delayed effects Note carefully for this one: it is NOT the intervention that is delayed (the intervention is implemented); rather it is the fact that the intervention does take a while to produce clinically significant effects, and those delayed effects have consequences for the individual like the ones presented on one of the preceding slides (to summarize; questions, comments, on to Skinner)

SO16: What is the problem of giving too much help? Skinner: By giving too much help, (a) we postpone the acquisition of effective behavior and (b) perpetuate the need for help. In the words of a well known proverb: Give a man a fish and you feed him for the day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. By giving the man a fish, the reinforcer for the behavior of fishing, we have postponed his learning how to fish He continues to need our help (Skinner’s basic point throughout the article: Make what people need, fish/food, contingent upon appropriate behaviors; instead of giving people things, we should teach them the appropriate/functional behaviors that will be reinforced by the things they need. Not only does this really help the individual, but it also improves the quality of his/her life.)

17A: Reasons why behavior may not be reinforced They have not learned to do things for themselves (they don’t know how to do things) They have learned to do things for themselves but others do things for them They are given things their behavior would otherwise be reinforced by (whether or not they know how to do things) This is the one that Skinner focuses on in the article – that is, giving people things that are powerful reinforcers gratis instead of teaching them or requiring them to engage in behaviors that result in those reinforcers (Then Skinner considers why the behavior of some individuals is not sufficiently reinforced – three reasons: he is basically saying that we are not helping individuals –in fact we are not really being ethical when we do things for others, when we don’t teach them to do things for themselves, or when we given things to people that would, in fact, reinforce appropriate/functional behavior.

SO17B: A nice behavioral translation Thus, when we refer to people as lacking initiative, having weak wills, suffering from apathy and boredom, what are they actually suffering from? Skinner states that when the behavior of people is not reinforced for the preceding reasons, we often attribute their resulting behaviors to feelings or states of mind. • A world in which their behavior is not positively reinforced (Skinner is making this translation to build up to his point that a good quality of life – a happy life, an active live, a “passionate” life/career depend upon people having functional/appropriate behaviors that result in positive reinforcement – and thus, we contribute to individuals having a lack of initiative, or to individuals being apathetic and bored when we give things to them or do things for them rather than teaching them the skills/behaviors that will result in positive reinforcement – this leads into SO19;)

SO19: How does behavior modification (analysis) help people? Behavior modification helps people by arranging conditions under which they get things rather than by giving them things. Again, in other words, we arrange contingencies so that valued/powerful reinforcers are provided for appropriate behaviors (getting things, “earning things”) rather than by noncontingently giving them the things are valued/powerful reinforcers. (this is a rather simple objective, but again, I want to stress the point Skinner is making here)

NFE: Hanley et al. Intro I included this article because of what it indicates about (a) “restrictiveness” of interventions and (b) that the selection of treatments should not be based on “personal conviction” about what is “good” or “bad” We should not be using the Golden Rule to select treatments, but the Platinum Rule Golden Rule: Treat others as we would like to be treated (or, perhaps in this case how we think we would like to be treated) Platinum Rule: Treat others as they would like to be treated (I am quoting Van Houten et al. here again)

Hanley et al. summary Participants: Two children Jay 5 years old, moderate retardation, autism, seizure disorder Self-injurious behaviors: hitting and slapping head with hands, hitting head with objects, biting arms, and eye poking Aggression: hitting, kicking, pushing, pinching, hair pulling, scratching, and head butting Disruption: throwing objects, breaking objects, and knocking objects to the floor Betty 8 years old, mild to moderate retardation, ADD, and oppositional defiant disorder Aggression: hitting, kicking, pinching, scratching, biting, pulling hair, and throwing objects at people (behavior targets in the study) Pica and self-injury (not treated in the current study due to the fact that these were controlled by different variables than her aggression; but did treat these in an intervention that was not described in the current paper)

Hanley et al. summary IV Functional communication with extinction Functional communication with punishment Punishment only for inappropriate behavior (control) SO22: What is functional communication training? The reinforcer for the problem behavior is determined The person is taught to emit an appropriate behavior – technically a mand – such as a gesture, vocal response, or picture card The appropriate behavior is reinforced by the samereinforcer that was reinforcing the problem behavior The problem behavior is extinguished, punished, or sometimes noncontingently reinforced (special type of DRA schedule; so you are reinforcing an alternative appropriate response, again with The same reinforcer that was maintaining the problem behavior)

Hanley et al. summary 1. Determined what reinforcer was maintaining the problem behaviors of Jay and Betty using a functional analysis Adult attention Jay: self-injury, aggression, disruption Betty: aggression 2. Functional Communication Training Taught children to emit appropriate responses that would result in adult attention Jay: Taught him to hand a yellow card that had the word “play” written on it to the therapist Betty: Taught her to say “attention, please” and “excuse me”

SOs 24, 25, 26: Hanley et al. summary IV Functional communication training with extinction (FCT only) FCT: Jay: if he handed the yellow card with the word “play” on it to the therapist, 20 seconds of praise/interaction with the therapist FCT: Betty: if she said, “attention, please” or “excuse me”, 20 seconds of praise/interaction with the therapist Extinction for inappropriate behavior Functional communication training with punishment FCT: same as the above for Jay and Betty Punishment for inappropriate behavior: Jay: 30 seconds hand-down procedure (therapist stood behind him and held his hands to his sides) Punishment for inappropriate behavior: Betty: 30 seconds hand-down procedure plus vision screen (therapist stood behind Betty, and placed one arm around Betty’s arms while placing the other hand over Betty’s eyes. Punishment only for inappropriate behavior (control) Punishment only, same as above (make sure you read Sos – ask you to learn details of the intervention; what is meant by “punishment” procedure)

SO27: Hanley et al. summary DV: Selection of treatment by Jay and Betty Pressed one of three different-colored switches, each of which was paired with one of the treatment conditions Blue – FCT with extinction Red – FCT with punishment White – Punishment only After they pressed the switch, they were: Immediately praised by the E regardless of which switch they pressed Were exposed to the corresponding treatment for 2 minutes (again, make sure you read the Sos –details)

SOs 28 & 30: Hanley et al. summary Results Both children strongly preferred functional communication with punishment, rather than functional communication with extinction Possible reason Functional communication with punishment was more effective in decreasing their inappropriate behaviors Because of that, a higher percentage of their responses were reinforced Thus, they preferred the condition in which they received the highest rate of reinforcement (SO30 reason: can’t just say they preferred the condition..explain that statement – it doesn’t stand on its own, the critical point here is that the FCT was more effective in decreasing inappropriate Behaviors (an absolute more restrictive procedure), which enabled more reinforcement for appropriate bx )

Hanley et al. summary: Relevance to Skinner and Van Houten et al. Skinner: What they are suffering from is a world in which their behavior is not positively reinforced Both children preferred the condition that resulted in the highest rate of reinforcement Van Houten et al. In some cases, a client’s right to effective treatment may dictate the immediate use of quicker acting, but temporarily more restrictive, procedures FCT with punishment was more effective than FCT with extinction Selection of a specific treatment is not based on personal conviction. Techniques are not considered either “good” or “bad” according to whether they involve the use of antecedent rather than consequent stimuli or reinforcement versus punishment. Most people would have considered FCT with punishment to be “worse” than FCT with extinction but FCT with punishment was both more effective and much more preferred by the children (Onto Dicky)

DickyWolf, Risley & Mees One of the most famous articles in behavior analysis First written account of behavior analysts working with an autistic child, 1964 First use of time out and where time out came from! (Before I talk about this, I want to just review an earlier study objective for you to keep in mind as I talk about this)

SO20: Skinner, behavior analysis vs. traditional views of helping others, the conflict Why was it inevitable that there would be a conflict between behavior modification and the traditional views of helping others, particularly those in institutional care? In order to help individuals with complex behavioral problems and provide a reinforcing environment, we need to implement effective contingencies of reinforcement The arrangement of effective contingencies of reinforcement involves depriving individuals to some extent of powerful reinforcers; things that have been traditionally viewed as guaranteed rights and withholding them until the habilitative/appropriate behavior occurs

DickyWolf, Risley & Mees Dicky was 3.5 years old He progressed normally until he was 9 months Cataracts were discovered in both eyes Severe temper tantrums and sleeping problems developed When two years old, he had a series of eye operations which made wearing glasses necessary; if he didn’t wear them it would result in permanent loss of macular vision (central as opposed to peripheral vision) He was seen by a variety of specialists who diagnosed him as: Mentally retarded, diffuse and locally brain-damaged, psychotic (among other things) It was recommended that he be placed in an institution for the retarded because his prognosis was so poor – when he was 3.5 years old!!

DickyWolf, Risley & Mees Behavioral problems Did not eat normally, lacked social and verbal repertoires, and engaged in self-injurious behaviors such as head-banging, face-slapping, hair-pulling, and face-scratching Would not sleep at night, forcing one or both parents to remain by his bed His mom said that after a severe tantrum “he was a mess, all black and blue and bleeding.” Sedatives, tranquilizers, and restraints were tried, without success

Certification, Licensing, & Ethics in Behavior Analysis