B.S., University of Florida
M.S., University of Florida
Ph.D., University of Florida
I am the Director of Behavior Analytic Research at the New England Center for Children. I received my master’s and doctorate degrees from the Psychology Department at the University of Florida under the mentorship of Dr. Brian Iwata. After completing graduate school, I worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Marcus Institute, where I worked with Dr. Wayne Fisher in the severe behavior unit and Dr. Cathleen Piazza in the pediatric feeding clinic. In 2002, I started my career at NECC as assistant director in the staff intensive unit before moving to the research department in 2005. I was invited and served as an associate editor for the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis from 2010 to 2013. I have also served as an AE mentor for JABA’s mentorship program, offering instruction and feedback to newer researchers and clinicians on skills for becoming an associate editor. I currently serve on the editorial boards for JABA and Behavioral Interventions, and I continue to serve as a guest associate editor for JABA, organizing peer review of submitted manuscripts and assisting author’s in refining their papers prior to publication. I have published over 50 studies on various research topics, including functional analysis refinements, assessment and treatment of severe problem behavior, preference and reinforcer assessments, and procedures for increasing various forms of engagement (leisure, vocational, or physical activity) among individuals with autism. In 2009, I received the B. F. Skinner Foundation new researcher award from Division 25 of the American Psychological Association. I have participated in federally funded research projects, including a collaboration with Bill Dube, Bill McIlvane, and Willie DeLeon.
FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS
Conducting functional analyses allows clinicians to identify the function of challenging behavior and implement function-based interventions. However, there are a number of potential barriers that may reduce the likelihood that clinicians conduct a functional analysis (e.g., limited time or resource constraints). Our lab is currently conducting a study on teaching staff to conduct a functional analysis and brief treatment. The training includes enhanced instructions and video models and is conducted remotely.
PREFERENCE AND REINFORCER ASSESSMENTS
Identifying a variety of reinforcers for individuals with autism is critical for ensuring successful interventions for promoting and maintaining important skills. Our group has examined several strategies for identifying preferred forms of social interaction, leisure materials, and vocational activities for individuals with autism. Much of this work involves ensuring that individualized rather than generic forms of social interaction used so that the most valuable reinforcers are identified. In addition, we have evaluated the inclusion of intervention components (prompting and reinforcement) during preference assessments to facilitate exposure to functional forms of leisure engagement.
TREATMENT OF BEHAVIOR MAINTAINED BY SOCIAL REINFORCEMENT
Individuals with autism often engage in challenging behavior that is maintained by social consequences (e.g., attention, escape, or access to tangibles). Some forms of challenging behavior may be difficult to treat because the maintaining reinforcer needs to be delivered to maintain client safety (e.g., an individual who has aggression maintained by escape or severe self-injury maintained by attention). In these situations, extinction (termination of the reinforcer) may not be practical. Our research group has conducted several studies in which interventions involve manipulating various reinforcer parameters to increase the likelihood that appropriate behavior will result in a higher quality reinforcer relative to problem behavior (e.g., providing a longer break for task completion and a shorter break for problem behavior).
TREATMENT OF AUTOMATICALLY REINFORCED CHALLENGING BEHAVIOR
Our research group has conducted several studies on automatically reinforced challenging behavior. Automatically reinforced behavior can be particularly resistant to treatment because the reinforcer (e.g., the stimulation produced by the response) cannot be easily withdrawn by a therapist. Our lab has conducted several treatment studies that involve first conducting a competing stimulus assessment to identify leisure activities that may compete. If competing activities are not identified, addition reinforcement contingencies have been evaluated. If reinforcement alone is not sufficient, our group has conducted a study evaluating various disruption procedures to identify one that directly decreases challenging behavior without causing side effects such as increases in emotional responding.
MISCELLANEOUS
In addition to the topics noted above, our lab group has conducted research on various topics that students have expressed interest in exploring. Some examples include increasing sleep-conducive behavior, evaluating an automated competition via a fitness tracker, assessing the stability of preference assessment outcomes, increasing cooperation with medical procedures, comparing the relative efficacy of different forms of social interaction for promoting acquisition with response chains, and comparing the relative efficacy of different reinforcement schedules for increasing task engagement.
PSY 502/503: Assessment and Treatment
This class describes various method for identifying the function of problem behavior and interventions for decreasing that behavior based on the identified function. This class closely follows the BACB task guidelines for for practicing behavior analysts. It is taught using brief lectures interspersed with small group instruction based on study questions that students prepare for each class meeting.
PSY 505: Methods of Evaluation
A critical part of best practice in Behavior Analysis and related fields is the evaluation of interventions. The purpose of this course is to prepare students on how to evaluate interventions by applying common measurement systems, understanding the logic of single-subject design, and becoming familiar with the different types available (e.g., reversal, multielement, multiple baseline, and changing criterion designs). Additional components of this class include graphically depicting data, assessing for orderly changes in behavior through visual inspection, and critically evaluating published research.
PSY 720: Assessment and Treatment of Severe Behavior Disorders
This course covers the defining characteristics, procedural variations, strengths, and weaknesses of each functional assessment approach (i.e., indirect methods, descriptive assessment, and functional analysis). In addition, various procedural modifications and extensions of functional analysis and function-based interventions will be reviewed. The purpose of this course is to prepare students on how to implement various treatment strategies, including elimination of establishing operations, extinction, and reinforcement of appropriate behavior. In addition, procedures for enhancing the practicality of intervention via schedule thinning are discussed.
