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Single-case design has a long history of use for assessing intervention effectiveness for children with disabilities. Although these designs have been widely employed for more than 50 years, recent years have been especially dynamic in terms of growth in the use of single-case design and application of standards designed to improve the validity and applicability of findings. This growth expanded possibilities and inspired new questions about the contributions this methodology can make to generalizable knowledge about intervention in special education. In this article, we discuss and extend previous standards for studies using single-case designs. We identify new suggestions for internal validity, generality and acceptability, and reporting. We also provide considerations for single-case synthesis and discuss the complexities of assessing accumulating evidence for a given practice.

Trial-based functional analysis (TBFA) is an accurate and ecologically valid assessment of challenging behavior. Further, there is evidence to suggest that individuals with minimal exposure to behavior analytic assessment methodology (e.g., parents, teachers) can quickly be trained to conduct TBFAs in naturalistic settings (e.g., schools, homes). Notwithstanding, the response effort associated with training development can be prohibitive and may preclude incorporation of TBFA into practice. To address this, we developed a partially automated training package, intended to increase the methodology's accessibility. Using a multiple-probe across skills design, we assessed the degree to which the package increased caregiver accuracy in (a) implementing TBFAs, (b) interpreting TBFA outcomes, and (c) managing TBFA data. Six caregivers completed this study and all demonstrated proficiency following training, first during structured roleplays and again during assessment of their child's actual challenging behavior.

Dryland riparian woodlands are considered to be locally buffered from droughts by shallow and stable groundwater levels. However, climate change is causing more frequent and severe drought events, accompanied by warmer temperatures, collectively threatening the persistence of these groundwater dependent ecosystems through a combination of increasing evaporative demand and decreasing groundwater supply. We conducted a dendro-isotopic analysis of radial growth and seasonal (semi-annual) carbon isotope discrimination (Δ13 C) to investigate the response of riparian cottonwood stands to the unprecedented California-wide drought from 2012 to 2019, along the largest remaining free-flowing river in Southern California. Our goals were to identify principal drivers and indicators of drought stress for dryland riparian woodlands, determine their thresholds of tolerance to hydroclimatic stressors, and ultimately assess their vulnerability to climate change. Riparian trees were highly responsive to drought conditions along the river, exhibiting suppressed growth and strong stomatal closure (inferred from reduced Δ13 C) during peak drought years. However, patterns of radial growth and Δ13 C were quite variable among sites that differed in climatic conditions and rate of groundwater decline. We show that the rate of groundwater decline, as opposed to climate factors, was the primary driver of site differences in drought stress, and trees showed greater sensitivity to temperature at sites subjected to faster groundwater decline. Across sites, higher correlation between radial growth and Δ13 C for individual trees, and higher inter-correlation of Δ13 C among trees were indicative of greater drought stress. Trees showed a threshold of tolerance to groundwater decline at 0.5 m year-1 beyond which drought stress became increasingly evident and severe. For sites that exceeded this threshold, peak physiological stress occurred when total groundwater recession exceeded ~3 m. These findings indicate that drought-induced groundwater decline associated with more extreme droughts is a primary threat to dryland riparian woodlands and increases their susceptibility to projected warmer temperatures.

Trial-based functional analysis (TBFA) is an accurate and ecologically valid assessment of challenging behavior. Further, there is evidence to suggest that individuals with minimal exposure to behavior analytic assessment methodology (e.g., parents, teachers) can quickly be trained to conduct TBFAs in naturalistic settings (e.g., schools, homes). Notwithstanding, the response effort associated with training development can be prohibitive and may preclude incorporation of TBFA into practice. To address this, we developed a partially automated training package, intended to increase the methodology's accessibility. Using a multiple-probe across skills design, we assessed the degree to which the package increased caregiver accuracy in (a) implementing TBFAs, (b) interpreting TBFA outcomes, and (c) managing TBFA data. Six caregivers completed this study and all demonstrated proficiency following training, first during structured roleplays and again during assessment of their child's actual challenging behavior., Author(s): Cassandra M. Standish [sup.1], Joseph M. Lambert [sup.1], Bailey A. Copeland [sup.1], Kathryn M. Bailey [sup.1], Ipshita Banerjee [sup.1], Mallory E. Lamers [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.152326.1, 0000 0001 [...]

In theory, the principles, processes, and concepts of applied behavior analysis are universally applicable. In practice, clinicians commit their lives to serving specific populations in specific settings for which specialization is needed. The purpose of this 6-year retrospective consecutive case series was to describe and evaluate the quality and validity of a practicum experience tailored to develop specialized expertise in the assessment and treatment of challenging behavior for pre-service practitioners enrolled in a department of a special education program.

This paper represents the third in a three-part series intended to challenge the social validity of the services provided by a university-based practicum for addressing the challenging behavior of individuals with disabilities. In this paper, we surveyed referring stakeholders (e.g., parents, teachers) of past service recipients to explore the acceptability of the service model's goals, methods, and outcomes. We probed for tensions resultant from the model's threefold mission (service, training, and research) and explored how conflicts between these goals affected the quality of our services. Generally, results were favorable and appeared to support continued model implementation, but not without qualification. Emergent themes, areas for improvement, and future directions for intervention research are all discussed.

Individualization and iterative design are essential components of the assessment and treatment of challenging behavior. Currently, there are few validated frameworks for engaging in iterative processes. Due to the nature of single-case design, empirically rigorous evaluations of decision-tree processes are particularly prohibitive. Notwithstanding, evaluations are needed. In this paper we first describe a function-informed and mechanisms-based (FIMB) framework for selecting treatment components employed by a university-based practicum experience designed to expose pre-service practitioners to a valid treatment process for challenging behavior. Then, we share a completed retrospective consecutive case series across a 6-year period in which we conducted a technique analysis to identify which procedures were most commonly selected in the practicum, and the impact of those choices on client outcomes. The results suggest that the model can be highly effective for some, but not all, cases. Implications are discussed.

Little research has highlighted how evidence-based practices (e.g., functional communication training [FCT]) might be adapted for bilingual learners with disabilities. In the current study, we served 2 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and challenging behavior whose parents primarily spoke Spanish at home, and whose teachers primarily spoke English at school. Following traditional FCT (i.e., 1 language only), we systematically replicated the findings of Neely, Graber et al. (2020) by demonstrating that mands in the untrained language (i.e., English) did not emerge when trained mands (i.e., Spanish) contacted extinction in alternative-language contexts. Simultaneously, challenging behavior consistently resurged. After children received explicit training with both languages and were taught to change the language of request when initial attempts were unsuccessful (i.e., "repair the message" training), these same children successfully obtained high rates of reinforcement in both language contexts, and challenging behavior rarely occurred.