Event Details:
Tuesday, December 11, 2018, 3:30pm EST - 4:30pm EST

An Evaluation of Multiple Schedules During Functional Communication Training

Professional Continuing Education Series

Instructor: Eliana Pizarro, M.A., BCBA

Description: When a functional analysis (FA) indicates that problematic behavior is reinforced by socially-mediated consequences, functional communication training (FCT) is a commonly prescribed intervention (Carr & Durand, 1985; Tiger & Hanley, 2008).

During FCT, the social consequence that previously reinforced problem behavior is instead delivered contingent on a functional communication response (FCR) and the problematic behavior typically undergoes extinction contingencies. One limitation of FCT is that individuals may engage in the FCR at exceedingly high rates following training. Simply ignoring the FCR may lead to resurgence of the previously observed problem behavior, whereas continuing to honor each FCR may be extremely effortful for caregivers or may result in the child consuming a dangerous amount of non-nutritive calories (e.g., FCRs for candy) or spending most of their waking hours engaged in sedentary leisure activities (e.g., FCRs for videos).

Thus, continually reinforcing high-rate FCRs may not be feasible nor ethical. One potential solution to this problem is to establish stimulus control of the FCR by implementing a multiple schedule. A multiple schedule is a compound schedule in which two or more schedules of reinforcement, extinction, or punishment alternate based on the passage of time and each component is correlated with a unique stimulus (Ferster & Skinner, 1957).

This CE event will include a discussion of a series of studies which replicate and extend previous research by evaluating multiple schedule arrangements on the development of discriminated responding and provide clinical implications and recommendations to practitioners.

CEs approved:  1.0 BCBA

May Institute is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. May Institute maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

REGISTRATION
Registration is required for all who attend. Registration for this event does commit you for attendance at this CE workshop. If you need to cancel, cancellations must be received 24 hours prior to the event by e-mail to vthompson@mayinstitute.org.

Fee: $30 for guests. May Institute employees may attend free-of-charge.

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