We tested the effects of an observational intervention on establishing children's books as conditioned reinforcers using a delayed multiple baseline design. Three preschool students with mild language and developmental delays served as the participants. Prior to the intervention, books did not function as reinforcers for any of the participants. The observational intervention consisted of a situation in which the participant observed a confederate being presented with access to books contingent on correct responses and the participant received nothing for correct responses. After several sessions of this treatment, the previously neutral books acquired reinforcing properties for maintenance and acquisition responses for all three participants.

We examined the effects of peer presence on the conditioning of new reinforcers via observation. At the outset, strings and toothpicks did not reinforce maintenance or acquisition responses for 3 preschoolers with and without developmental delays. In the first intervention, the stimuli were placed in a cup in front of an empty chair next to the participant, and the participant was denied access to those stimuli. The second intervention was identical to the first, except that a peer was present. Postintervention tests revealed that only the peer intervention was successful in conditioning neutral stimuli as reinforcers for both maintenance and acquisition responses for all 3 participants. The presence of a peer appears to facilitate the conditioning of reinforcers by observation.

We tested the effects of an intensive tact instruction procedure on the emission of verbal operants in non-instructional settings by three preschool students with developmental delays. The participants were selected because they emitted low numbers pure verbal operants in non-instructional settings throughout the school day. Specifically, we measured the number of pure mands and tacts emitted during probes in the non-instructional settings. During the intensive tact procedure, the participants received an additional 100 tacts above their average number of daily learn units. In a delayed multiple probe design, we found that the intensive tact instruction was effective in increasing the number of pure mands and tacts emitted in the non-instructional settings by all three of the participants in the study.

Recent events have emphasized the need for behavior-analytic service delivery models that can remain clinically consistent and produce high-quality outcomes while adapting to environmental change. This paper reports outcomes of an organization that adapted to changes in its service delivery model during a worldwide pandemic. The organization utilized components from the Comprehensive Application of Behavior Analysis to Schooling (CABAS ® ) model. The components were interconnected within the system and linked by specific interlocking contingencies. Performance data were used to make decisions within the organization on both individual and organizational levels during the transition to telehealth for clients and staff. Results are discussed in terms of how the interconnectedness of components within the organization contributed to the reliable, positive outcomes of the system during the transition to telehealth.

We tested the effects of the repeated delivery of metal nuts to peers on the establishment of them as preferred stimuli for 4 preschool children. Prior to the conditioning procedure, metal nuts were relatively nonpreferred stimuli for the participants, as indicated by responses to mastered and acquisition tasks. We used pre-and postconditioning tests of reinforcer effectiveness, which included an ABAB reversal design for a mastered task and an AB design replicated across 4 acquisition tasks, delayed across participants. During the conditioning procedure, the participants were instructed to deliver a metal nut to a peer at the sound of a beep while they were denied access to the nuts themselves. Conditioning sessions continued until the participants demonstrated a low rate of delivery. Postconditioning tests demonstrated that repeatedly delivering the metal nuts to peers resulted in the metal nuts functioning as preferred stimuli for all participants.