Play skills are an essential component of a learner's repertoire, allowing access to social interactions with peers and adults. Children with developmental disabilities frequently require explicit teaching to acquire play skills rather than acquiring them through natural learning opportunities. Without targeted practice, these deficits could continue to expand, separating the children from their typically developing peers. This study aimed to teach three children with developmental disabilities independent play skills in the form of building blocks with a diagram. We evaluated three methods of teaching play skills, prompting, modeling, and a multi-component approach, within an alternating treatment design to determine which, if any, is most effective. Each teaching strategy included a three-step prompting hierarchy and was paired with an edible reinforcer delivered following independence. Successful responses at the targeted prompt level resulted in verbal praise. Following intervention, the rate of successful responses and independent responses increased across all three participants.

Implicit biases held by professionals, functioning outside conscious awareness, can negatively affect client outcomes and professional well-being. Purpose: This systematic review evaluated evidence in the literature of Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) utility for assessing implicit biases held by professionals toward client populations. Method: Included studies were those published 2000 through 2020 using IRAP to measure implicit biases in professionals toward consumers. Results: Eight studies met inclusion criteria, with two meeting borderline requirements. Results support IRAP reliability and validity for identifying implicit biases. Variation presents across studies in reporting and analysis of IRAP effects. Discussion: Convergence and divergence between implicit and explicit measures are discussed in terms of relational responding. Results are limited by the relative paucity of studies meeting inclusion criteria and by inconsistencies in data reporting and analysis. Methods for selecting IRAP stimuli are discussed, with a call for a more function-driven approach. Standardization of IRAP methodology is recommended to facilitate extension.

Recent research has demonstrated the utility of latency measures during the functional analysis of problem behavior; however, few studies have evaluated the utility of latency measures during subsequent treatment analyses. The current study seeks to extend the literature on the use of latency measures during the treatment of severe self‐injurious behavior (SIB). Following a latency‐based functional analysis, a treatment analysis was conducted using a hybrid procedure in which baseline sessions were terminated following the first instance of SIB, and test sessions ended after a fixed length of time. Latency to SIB was compared across conditions, whereas latency and rate measures for both SIB and functional communication responses were compared for the functional communication training condition. Results suggest that latency measures may be too sensitive during treatment analyses and that it is beneficial to use a hybrid procedure that allows for both latency and rate comparisons.

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