To ensure the quality of training, skills developed and maintained, and expected standards for behavior analysts, several systems have been put into place across the years. Of these systems, perhaps the most widespread was the development of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board in 1998. Once all requirements are met, the final determinative…

Recent studies have shown that exposure to a novel environment may stabilize the persistence of weak memories, a phenomenon often attributed to a process referred to as "behavioral tagging." While this phenomenon has been repeatedly demonstrated in adult animals, no studies to date have examined whether it occurs in infant animals, which…

The use of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in the child's natural setting is critical for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to improve communication skills and promote generalization. Yet, to implement EBPs effectively, caregivers often require training. The purpose of this study is to explore the efficacy of behavior skills…

Studies have shown that neonate rodents exhibit high ability to learn a preference for novel odors associated with thermo-tactile stimuli that mimics maternal care. Artificial odors paired with vigorous strokes in rat pups younger than 10 postnatal days (P), but not older, rapidly induce an orientation-approximation behavior toward the conditioned…

I conducted a descriptive study consisting of 30 preschool participants with and without disabilities to examine the relation between the 3 bidirectional operants. The bidirectional operants were speaker-as-own-listener cusps, which included bidirectional verbal operants between people, bidirectional self-talk conversational units, and…

A fundamental property of extinction is that the behavior that is suppressed during extinction can be unmasked through a number of postextinction procedures. Of the commonly studied unmasking procedures (spontaneous recovery, reinstatement, contextual renewal, and rapid reacquisition), rapid reacquisition is the only approach that allows a direct…

These experiments examined the relationship between the neurotrophic factor fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) and individual differences in the expression of conditioned fear. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that rats naturally expressing low levels of contextual or cued fear have higher levels of hippocampal FGF2 relative to rats that express…

In three experiments, I tested the effects of the conditioned reinforcement for reading (R+Reading) on reading comprehension with 5th graders. In Experiment 1, I conducted a series of statistical analyses with data from 18 participants for one year. I administered 4 pre/post measurements for reading repertoires which included: 1) state-wide…