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UCSB Koegel Autism Center

Journal of

Positive Behavior Interventions

Volume 10, Number 4, October 2008
TABLE OF CONTENTS AND ABSTRACTS

Editorial
Robert Horner and Robert L. Koegel

Articles

Personal Paradigm Shifts Among ABA and PBS Experts .
Fredda Brown, Craig A. Michaels, Christopher M. Oliva, and Sara B. Woolf

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) experts were surveyed to examine their perceptions of treatment acceptability of commonly used decelerative consequence-based behavioral procedures and the factors that have influenced shifts in these perceptions over time. These results were then compared with the perceptions of positive behavior supports (PBS) experts form an earlier study. Both similarities and disparities in perceptions across groups of experts are reported. Differences were noted in the overall acceptability and frequency of use of various consequence-based decelerative procedures, with ABA experts expressing greater willingness to consider their use than PBS experts. However, there were many similarities across both groups, including the decade in which shifts occurred in perceptions of treatment acceptability, the reasons these changes occurred, and the rationales used to justify the use of nonuse of certain consequence-based strategies. These data support earlier work that found that perceptions of treatment acceptability were not static but, rather, changed across time.

The Effects of Theory-of-Mind and Social Skill Training on the Social Competence of a Sixth-Grade Student with Autism.
Hua Feng, Ya-yu Lo, Shuling Tsai, and Gwendolyn Cartledge

The authors investigated the effects of a theory-of-mind (ToM) and social skill training program on the ToM assessments and social interactions of a sixth-grade high-functioning student with autism. A multiple probe design across behaviors and settings was conducted to evaluate the training program on the participant's learning outcomes. The results showed a functional relationship between the intervention and the participant's skill mastery. Specifically, the participant's appropriate social interactions increased substantially across time and settings with similar improvements in the ToM test scores. The participant's teachers, mother, and peers responded positively to the intervention, indicating their acceptance of the training procedures and outcomes.

Relationships Between Academics and Problem Behavior in the Transition From Middle School to High School.
Kent McIntosh, K. Brigid Flannery, George Sugai, Drew H. Braun, and Krysta L. Cochrane

Given the increased risk factors in the transition from middle school to high school, this study tracked academic and school discipline records for students receiving general and special education services as they transitioned from Grade 8 to Grade 9. The authors employed analysis of variance and structural equation modeling to determine the significance and strength of the relationship between academic skills and behavior variables. Results indicated significant interactions between academic scores and office discipline referrals, both within and across grades. When controlling for the direct effects, crossover effects of Grade 8 discipline referrals on Grade 9 academic scores remained statistically significant, through effects of Grade 8 state reading assessment scores on Grade 9 discipline referrals did not. Results are discussed in terms of improving school environments and academic instruction to prevent school failure.

Understanding School Personnel's Resistance to Adopting Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support at a Universal Level of Intervention.
Sharon Lohrmann, Susan Forman, Stacy Martin, and Mark Palmieri

In recent years, a large number of schools around the country have implemented schoolwide positive behavior support (SWPBS; Sugai & Horner, 2006). Because of the increasing use of this model of support, research examining the factors associated with implementation is needed. The purpose of this investigation was to document and contextualize technical assistance providers' observations and perspectives about what factors influenced or explained school personnel's resistance toward implementing the universal level of SWPBS. Qualitative research methods were used to investigate the barrier conditions considered by technical assistance providers as influential on school personnel's resistance to adopting SWPBS at a universal level of intervention and the complementary strategies used to promote cooperation and commitment. Multiple interviews from 14 technical assistance providers suggest five barrier conditions that contribute to resistance and the complementary strategies used to promote cooperation and commitment. A detailed description of the five conditions and strategies is provided. Additionally, implications for practice and areas of future research are addressed.

Forum

Evidence Suggesting the Existence of Asperger Syndrome in the Mid-1800s .
Ashley Kern Koegel

Originally published in Putnam's Monthly Magazine in 1853, nearly a century before autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was formally recognized, Herman Melville's Bartleby is the naive tale of a nonconforming, socially awkward character. However, when placed into contemporary context, retrospective analysis indicates that Bartleby may in fact have been a victim of the modern diagnosis of ASD, more specifically, a high-functioning form of autism termed Asperger syndrome. In 1853, it is unlikely that individuals who would now be characterized as having ASD would have been accepted by society. Without proper diagnosis and any appropriate form of treatment, such individuals had little chance of improvement or inclusion. The following is a modern case study, proposing that Melville's Bartleby was affected with the modern syndrome of ASD, and his work was thus suggesting the existence of Asperger Syndrome in the mid-1800s.