Analyst Today Research Articles

Editorial: Introduction to special issue on thinking and behavior.

For this special issue of the Behavior Analyst Today (BAT), invitations were sent out to various behavioral listservs to recruit articles related to behavior analysis and thinking. I pitched this idea to then co-Lead Editors Tom Zane and Mary Jane Weiss when I was an associate editor for BAT. They enthusiastically supported this idea, and it seemed like an ideal transition for the issue as I took the helm as incoming Lead Editor. It seems that is often discussed in teaching behavior analysis, but not something that we often take the time to write about in these terms. As I have written previously, thinking about the ways in which thinking can be assessed and shaped is important (Crone-Todd, 2007). As we received manuscript submissions for consideration, I was struck by the care and thought given to written about thinking from a behavioral perspective. As we know, Skinner (1957) devoted a chapter to thinking in Verbal Behavior; however, it remains one of those topics that is not well represented in our field Since behaviorism takes a physically monist position with respect to mental and physical behavior, the processes involved in private thinking, reasoning, feeling, and other private experiences are considered to be controlled by the same respondent and operant principles and procedures as our public behaviors. However, as Skinner and others have pointed out, scientifically studying our private events is very difficult: They are indeed only truly observable to one individual. This fact makes procedural reliability methods commonly used in our field, such as inter-observer reliability, impossible to carry out. Despite this difficulty, it is also the case that behaviorists study the outcomes of behavior. Under different conditions, we study whether or not students are likely to produce different products of thinking behavior. In Education, these products might include test scores on exams, or some assessment of the quality of their papers or other written work. In this issue, the contributing authors offer a variety of ways in which thinking can be studied as a product of behavior. The first three inter-related articles are based on the work of T.V. Joe Layng, Melinda Sota, and Marta Leon, who have been studying text comprehension. In the first article (Layng, Sota, & Leon, 2011), reading comprehension is discussed in terms of two different repertoires: verbal and investigative. This approach will be of general interest to readers in terms of how to look at complex human behavior, and is a good introduction to the foundation for this work at Headsprout. The second article (Sota, Leon, & Layng, 2011) covers content analysis of the products of the complex set of verbal and investigative repertoires. There is also a call to assessment at the beginning of instruction so that those who are teaching text comprehension can start where the student is at, and thereby are more likely to shape the complex repertoires involved. In the third article (Leon, Layng, & Sota, 2011), the synthesis of how to program, and expand, the repertoires is presented. The emphasis on setting up the conditions for successful learning should not escape readers from the behavioral perspective. The fourth article, by Louis Svenningsen and Joseph Pear (2011), describes two experiments in which the computer-aided personalized system of instruction (CAPSI) is shown as effective in teaching critical thinking skills to university-level students This use of a PSI course to teach critical thinking is important, since behavioral approaches to teaching are often criticized for only purportedly teaching lower-order skills. …

Introduction for the special issue on functional assessment and treatment development.

The literature on functional assessment and function-based treatments is robust. Since the seminal articles published by Carr (1977) and Iwata Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman & Richard, (1982/1994), the field of functional analysis not only flourished, but it has revolutionized the assessment and treatment process. Functional assessment procedures have been used to guide the treatment process for a wide range of behavioral difficulties, including, aggression, self-injurious behavior, disruption, property destruction, ritualistic behavior, feeding disorders, pica to name a few. This literature has consistently shown that understanding why challenging behavior occurs is far more important than what it looks like to develop effective interventions. Prior to this research, treatments for problem behavior were often selected arbitrarily, without knowledge of the cause, which ultimately led to less effective, non-function based interventions (Carr & Durand, 1985; Durand & Kishi, 1987; Kahng, Iwata & Lewin, 2002; Repp, Felce & Barton, 1988). The importance of this body of literature cannot be underestimated. The literature has had a tremendous impact on clinical practice as we currently know it. Not only have functional assessment and treatment procedures been shown to benefit individuals exhibiting problem behavior (see Hanley, Iwata & McCord, 2003 and Kahng, et al., 2002 for reviews on the topic), but the model of evidence-based practice employed by practitioners using the procedures has influenced federal and state legislation regarding best practice (IDEA, 1997, 2004). While the literature on functional assessment and intervention development has changed the landscape of the educational system, gaps still remain in the translation of research to practice. Although these procedures have widespread support in the behavioral literature, they are often inconsistently applied in clinical settings. Some of these gaps are related to the use of empirically supported functional assessment procedures. Other gaps are related to treatment issues in applied settings. The current issue of Behavior Analyst Today will address some of these gaps in the literature related to the translation from empirical evidence to clinical practice. There remain questions about the practical application of functional assessment procedures. The article by Delfs and Campbell (2010) provides a unique quantitative review of the empirical literature on the topic of functional assessment. The authors discuss the validity of different types of functional behavioral assessment as well as the use of the procedures to determine if behavioral function and treatment effectiveness varies as a function of diagnosis. Sloman (2010) outlines critical issues as they relate to the use of descriptive assessment. While research findings have been mixed regarding the validity, the author reviews the circumstances under which descriptive assessment may be most useful. In addition, Sloman identifies novel uses of descriptive assessment procedures that may be useful for monitoring treatment integrity and providing feedback on implementation. In the paper by Manente, Maraventano, LaRue Delmolino & Sloan (2010), the authors review best practices in the assessment and treatment of adults with autism. They identify some of the unique challenges to the implementation functional assessment procedures and identify procedural modifications to facilitate their use in applied settings. Gadaire, Kelley, & DeRosa (2010) address one of the most glaring issues in the functional assessment and treatment literature at this time. Although the principles of operant behavior apply across diagnostic boundaries, the majority of behavioral assessment and treatment literature has focused exclusively on younger populations with developmental disabilities. As a result, best practice is often only extended to this population, and the extent to which other populations have benefitted from the advances in our science is limited. …

Religion and Globalisation: Sub-Saharan Islam to Conquer New Territories

ABSTRACT No analyst today would ever dream of denying the fact that religious flows are in line with globalisation. As such, sub-Saharan Africa is not unaffected by globalisation, even if its share in international trade is minute. Different mechanisms are indeed working towards its insertion in the international system, including and perhaps especially the transnational religious networks that, due to their proselytism and mobilisation capacity, dominate as one of the privileged vectors of that insertion. This phenomenon has been the subject of in-depth studies on the Catholic and Protestant churches; however, this is not the case concerning Islam, even though the globalisation of Islam accompanied its expansion throughout the twentieth century in Africa and the Umma and is, by definition, supranational. The transnationalisation of sub-Saharan African Islam in fact follows several paths and combines individual and collective strategies; it does not deal only with institutions, politico-commercial or ‘material civilisation’ networks, but also with culture and symbols, where globalisation is also constructed and deconstructed in the imagination.

Echoes of good bye.

There is something so universal about saying goodbye: Universal and sad. The minute after I uttered the words that I was leaving Journal of Early and Intensive Behavioral Intervention (JEIBI) at the last meeting of the Behavior Analyst Online Governing board Meeting in 2007, so that I could free up time for the two new journal assignments the words seemed to echo with me. For the rest of the meeting, much of my energy went into maintaining the appearance that this was an easy decision for me. It was not and the words stayed several days. My thoughts traveled back to a time when Craig Thomas was first proposing the journal. I actually opposed the initial proposal. Craig spent several persistent conversations talking me into it. We had the Behavior Analyst Today at that point, were their really enough articles to start a new journal? I spent almost a year gathering the editorial team and convincing authors to take a risk and send us their articles. I assured them that since the Behavior Analyst Today was a success this journal would be too and thus JEIBI was borne. At the time, we were concerned that the journal would become very limited in scope- early intervention for children with autism. These concerns were not unique to us and others have since echoed similar concerns about the field of behavior analysis. The three that most influence the development of Journal of Early and Intensive Behavioral Intervention were (1) Loss of mission for the field of behavior analysis (2) the field had become withdrawn and isolated (Critchfield, 2002) and (3) and timid in its application focusing mostly on the use of contingency management procedures and ignoring recent developments in the basic literature such as focus on the matching law, research on momentum, relational frames, and (O'Donohue & Fryling, 2007). One of the major concerns was loss of mission, simply stated was that behavior analysis was becoming a subfield of developmental disabilities (Hayes, 2001). With the above concerns, we began to invite authors for the first issue and if truth were known we caught a lucky break. The first few issues of a journal are often considered the defining issues. Readers look at those issues and decide if their work is suitable for the journal. Many of the early invites for people in developmental disabilities were returned as not having the time. This allowed our first issue to be focused mainly on a diverse array of issues including two excellent articles on typical children. So the first issue helped us define ourselves broadly and we were luck in avoiding most of the three criticisms about the field of behavior analysis as a whole. …

The aggregation of single-case results using hierarchical linear models.

To investigate the generalizability of the results of single-case experimental studies, evaluating the effect of one or more treatments, in applied research various simultaneous and sequential replication strategies are used. We discuss one approach for aggregating the results for single-cases: the use of hierarchical linear models. This approach has the potential to allow making improved inferences about the effects for the individual cases, but also to estimate and test the overall effect, and explore the generality of this effect across cases and under different conditions. Keywords: single-case; hierarchical linear model; replication; aggregation ********** Single-case experimental designs are used to evaluate the effect of one or more treatments on a single case. The case may be a subject or another single entity that forms the research unit, such as a school or a family. This entity is repeatedly observed, over the levels of one or several manipulated independent variables (Onghena, 2005). In the most basic design, the AB-phase design or interrupted time series design, the case is observed repeatedly during a first phase (A), typically a baseline phase before an intervention takes place, and in a second phase (B) after or during an intervention. To evaluate the effect of the intervention, scores in both phases are compared. Single-case designs have a long history in behavioral science (Ittenbach & Lawhead, 1997), but the last decades, single-case methodology has further been elaborated, aiming at improving the internal validity of the conclusions. For instance, reversal phase designs (e.g., an ABAB-design) or alternation designs with rapidly alternating conditions (e.g., an AABBBABAABB-design) rather than a simple AB-phase design may be used in order to assess or control statistically for the effect of history, maturation or other time-related confounding variables. The effect of such confounding variables may further be controlled by means of randomization while setting up the study, for instance by randomly assigning measurement occasions over treatments or randomizing the time of intervention (Edgington, 1996). Although group designs receive much more attention in methodological courses and handbooks, in the last decades there has been renewed interest in single-case designs, especially in behavior modification and clinical psychology (Barlow & Hersen, 1984. Kazdin, 1982), neuropsychology (Caramazza, 1990), psychopharmacology (Cook, 1996), and educational research (Kratochwill & Levin, 1992). The popularity of the designs is also reflected in the relatively large number of articles published in the Behavior Analyst Today that discuss or apply a variety of single-case designs (about twenty between 2001 and 2006). Single-case designs indeed are very attractive in several situations (Franklin, Allison, Gorman, 1997; Onghena, 2005). Single-case studies may be relatively easy to set up and are much less expensive than large-scale group-comparison studies. This makes the designs also attractive for practitioners, who want to get a first insight into the effect of a treatment. An additional strength of single-case designs is that, in contrast to group designs that give insight into the average effect of a treatment, they give an in-depth insight into the behavior of one single case. Especially in clinical settings, the research indeed often focuses on the effect of a treatment for a specific case. Finally, since only a single case is investigated, the design often allows making a large number of repeated observations, enabling a detailed study of the evolution of the behavior. Single-case designs thus are (initially) aimed at drawing valid conclusions regarding one entity. Sometimes, for instance in applied clinical settings, the primary interest may indeed be in this single entity, since it concerns a case that presented itself with a problem to solve. …

Editorial: Behaviorally oriented therapies, corrections, and public policy.

As we release another issue of the Behavior Analyst Today, the first author was struck by the brightness of the future of the field of behavior analysis. Advances in basic research appear to demonstrate that many of the higher processes of the brain are automatized, such as social interaction, evaluations, and judgments, as well as goal setting suggesting these processes can be studied purely behaviorally without reference to conscious, will or internal guidance (Bargh & Ferguson, 2000). This places behavioral research as central in the discussion of public policy in issues such as socialization and social judgments. Readers of this journal of course will not be surprised by this for we have presented data and theoretical work for years on the role of reinforced function in establishing social behavior (see Patterson, 2002; Snyder, Stoolmiller, Patterson, Schrepferman, Oeser, Johnson, & Soetaert, 2003). In addition, a recent review by Dunst (2003) of 29 studies of infants including 862 infants found that response-contingent learning opportunities, in which the behavior of the child is clearly related to the consequences, produced the greatest amount of social responding and greatly attenuated both negative affect and negative social responding. This offers behaviorists with a clear explanation of positive social development in children and a method to help parents avoid emotional disturbances. ********** In studies with delinquents, while the effect size overall was moderate (Effect size .40) the long-term appropriateness of behavioral treatments for juvenile offenders was found by Gottschalk, Davidson, Mayer, and Gensheimer (1987)(1) and for social learning programs a larger moderate effect size (.77) (Mayer, Gensheimer, Davidson & Gottschalk, 1986) was found. Behavioral programs are well established according to APA criteria and should serve as the cornerstone to correctional practices. Indeed, with the growth in the prison population, it is far past the time for prisons (2), half way houses and diversionary programs to incorporate a resident behavior analyst to ensure that behavioral treatments are readily available for offender remediation in an effort to reduce recidivism. In addition, in a recent meta-analysis, French and Gendreau (2006) found that behaviorally oriented programs have a large effect size when reducing prison misbehavior and this correlates with post release recidivism. A recent survey found that we asked about theoretical orientation 69% of correctional psychologists reported adhering to behavioral model (Boothby & Clements, 2000). Outside of the residential environment behavioral treatments have also been effective. Behavioral parent training has not only received empirical validation (see Chambless, Baker, Baucom, et al. 1998) but has received support as the treatment of choice for children with disruptive disorders (e.g., Brestan & Eyberg, 1998). Behavioral parent training has support for both immediate and long-term outcomes (Bank, Marlowe, Reid, Patterson, & Weinrott, 1991; Barkley, 1997; Gallagher, 2003; McMahon & Wells, 1998; Webster-Stratton, 1996; Webster-Stratton, Kolpacoff, & Hollingsworth, 1988; Webster Stratton, Hollinsworth, & Kolpacoff, 1989). Conservative estimates show between of 50-66% of children with disruptive behavior patterns function in the normal range at the termination of treatment consisting of training parents in use of operant procedures (Dishion & Patterson, 1992)3. For a particular form of behavioral parent training, parent-child interaction therapy current research suggest that it not only reduces behavioral problems but also improves emotional adjustment (see Gallagher, 2003 for review). Behavioral parent training based on social learning principles has recently moved into the foster care environment. Both specialized foster care (Chamberlain & Reid, 1991; Bryant & Snodgrass, 1992) and multidimensional treatment foster care (Chamberlain & Moore, 1998; Fischer, Ellis, & Chamberlain, 1999) represent two program models built on the parent-training model. …

Citation performance of behaviorally oriented journals.

Multiple citation measures are provided for journals that routinely publish behaviorally oriented articles. These measures reveal how frequently articles from specific journals are cited, how a journal's citation performance is ranked compared to other journals, the proportion of a journal's citations that are self-citations, how rapidly a journal's articles are cited, and whether a journal's citations are from its recently published articles. The data reveal many journals making differential impacts on the literature as evidenced by their citation performances. Key words: behavioral psychology, citation analysis, journals ********** Content analyses of the behavioral literature have become increasingly popular in recent years. The content of behavioral journals has been examined for authorship trends (e.g., Mathews, 1997), assessment practices (e.g., Carr, Austin, Britton, Kellum, & Bailey, 1999), and general research characteristics (e.g., Northup, Vollmer, & Serrett, 1993), among other features. In addition, several articles have investigated the citation practices of specific journals (e.g., Laties & Mace, 1993). For example, Poling, Alling, and Fuqua (1994) evaluated self-and cross-citations between Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) and Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB) and found relatively high self-citation rates within each journal and low cross-citation rates between them. Critchfield (2002) used citation measures to document relations among and between certain clusters of journals (e.g., basic and applied behavioral journals). The author reported, among other findings, that JABA's recent influence on other applied behavioral journals was relatively minor. Recently, Carr and Britton (2003) provided citation frequencies and impact factors for six applied behavioral journals over a 20-year period and found that the journals generally maintained their impact on the literature. The authors also reported additional citation measures (i.e., impact factor rank, self-citation rate, immediacy index, cited half-life) for nine applied behavioral journals for the 2000 publication year. The purpose of the present article is to extend the Carr and Britton (2003) article by providing recent citation data for a larger and more diverse array of behaviorally oriented journals. The intended benefit of this effort is to summarize data that are widely available, but time-consuming to collate, such that the behavioral community has ready access to multiple quantitative measures for specific journals. These data reveal how frequently articles from specific journals are cited, how a journal's citation performance is ranked compared to other journals, the proportion of a journal's citations that are self-citations, how rapidly a journal's articles are cited, and whether a journal's citations are from its recently published articles (compared to ones from earlier years). METHOD Journal Selection Journals were primarily selected from the PsycSCAN: Behavior Analysis & Therapy coverage list of behavioral journals. PsycSCAN: Behavior Analysis & Therapy was published by the American Psychological Association (APA) from 1995 to 2001 and biannually reprinted the bibliographic information and abstracts of articles published in the journals on its coverage list. The coverage list was developed by individuals selected by the Executive Committee of APA Division 25 (Behavior Analysis) and members of the APA Publications and Communications Board. Two additional behaviorally oriented journals (The Behavior Analyst Today, Cognitive and Behavioral Practice) were added to the 38 found on the PsycSCAN coverage list because they began publication after the coverage list was developed. The 40 journals that comprised our final list can be found in Tables 1 and 2. Journal Citation Database All citation data were obtained from Journal Citation Reports--Social Sciences Edition (JCR; Institute for Scientific Information, 2002). …

Is the Couch Just A Couch?

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Professional NewsFull AccessIs the Couch Just A Couch?Joan Arehart-TreichelJoan Arehart-TreichelSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:19 Mar 2004https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.39.6.0011bWhatever happened to Freud’s famous couch—the one on which his patients used to recline and “free-associate”? It is alive and well in 20 Maresfield Gardens, London, England. That is the house where Freud and his family lived after they fled Austria and the Nazis in 1938 and is now the Freud Museum.But at the dawn of the 21st century, couches in general are no longer the centerpiece of psychoanalysis that they used to be, Kerry Sulkowicz, M.D., a New York psychoanalyst, reported at a press briefing at the American Psychoanalytic Association meeting in New York in January.According to prevailing psychoanalytic philosophy, he explained, the analytic perspective and the analytic process—not the couch—are the most important tools in analysis. The couch, like the frequency of analytic sessions, is considered a device that can foster a greater depth of exploration of the patient’s mind. Hence an analyst today will sometimes use it and sometimes not. Of course, patients have a choice, and sometimes whether a patient feels like reclining during a session becomes a takeoff point for discussion.Still another couch-related trend, Sulkowicz added, is to use the couch at times for dynamic psychotherapy, since analysts these days spend most of their time doing dynamic psychotherapy, not traditional analysis.“But is the couch left in the analyst’s office when it is not in use?,” a reporter asked. “Or is it folded up or stowed somewhere else until it is again needed?”“It stays in place,” Sulkowicz replied with a chuckle. “We do not use a Murphy-bed type of couch.” ▪ ISSUES NewArchived

A comparison of two treatment studies: CBT and MDT with adolescent male sex offenders with reactive conduct disorder and/or personality traits.

This paper compares results of two separate published studies regarding adolescent males with conduct disorders and/or personality disorders/traits. Both studies were published in Behavior Analyst Today, Vol. 3, No. 4, Vol 5, No. 1, respectively. The concept is to evaluate two treatment research studies that represent the best practices for each intervention. The first paper in this comparison represented a group of 10 adolescents, treated with a manual-based cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) called Thought Change. The results of study were promising at time of publication. The second paper was a group of 10 adolescent males at same residential treatment center. There was one therapist who was involved in treatment in both studies, first author of this paper. The second paper used mode deactivation therapy (MDT) (Apsche, Ward, & Evile 2001; Apsche & Ward 2002). Although both papers produced promising results, potential usefulness of comparison in current paper is to examine what intervention might hold more promise for this typology of adolescents. Keywords: Mode Deactivation Therapy; Cognitive Behavior Therapy; Thought change; Best practices; Adolescents with conduct and/or personality disorders. ********** Examining comparative data between two published studies, one CBT and other MDT as a CBT was interesting for many reasons. Both studies were conducted at same facility, a residential sex offender program for adolescent males and had first author of this paper as one of therapists. The CBT study was completed first. Thought Change, CBT methodology, was an effort to establish an effective manual-based treatment to address complexities of adolescent male sexual offender's. MDT was developed to address more reactive adolescents who were not successful in regular CBT. The MDT individuals did not or could not complete Thought Change (CBT) program and needed methodology to be adjusted for their extreme dichotomous, emotional dysregulation and reactive aggression. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Thought Change (TC) as a CBT methodology was designed to treat a conglomerate of personality disorders. The treatment of higher risk, aggressive sex offender focuses on specific deviant sexual arousal and antisocial sub-structure. For same-sex offender of young children who continues to show deviant interest in young victims, Thought Change addresses specific indices of this sub-group. Thought Change explores deficits in self-esteem, social competency, and frequent depression. Many of these youths display severe personality disorders with psychosexual disturbances and high levels of aggression and violence; therefore, Thought Change also focuses on specific individual indices of these issues by identifying and modifying complex system of beliefs. The Thought Change curriculum consists of a structured treatment program, which addresses dysfunctional beliefs that drive sex offending behaviors. Topics in Thought Change curriculum include following: Daily Record of Negative Thoughts, Cognitive Distortions, Changing Your Thoughts, Sexual Offense System, System of Aggression and Violence for Sex Offenders, Moods (how to change them), Beliefs (how it all fits together), Responsibility, Health Behavior Continuum, Beliefs and Substance Abuse, Beliefs and Empathy, The Beliefs of Victim/Offender, The Victim/Victimizer, and Mental Health Medication System. The sections of Thought Change Workbook are designed to progress sequentially through therapy. It is a record of dysfunctional beliefs prior to, during, and following sexual offense. Mode Deactivation Therapy (MDT) as a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) The focus of MDT is based on work of Aaron Beck, M.D., particularly his recent theoretical work, system of modes (Beck, 1996, Alford & Beck, 1997). …

The behavior analyst today: Achieving its mission but still a long way to go!

With the issue of BAT 2(4), we have successfully completed our second year. Publishing 3 (1), we begin our third year and indeed much has occurred to the world and our profession in that last year. Those of us who reside in the United States have witnessed a contested election, an ever broadening recession, and of course the vicious, unprovoked attack of September 11th. September 11th has bought the U.S. president has termed a new normalcy to this country. It is one that many abroad have become accustomed to: the idea of living with ever tightening security and the realization that at any moment, our lives can be determined by total strangers. On the issue of the recession, during this time it is critical for companies to increase productivity with fewer personnel then before. One way to accomplish this is through the use of performance pay systems. William Abernathy has provided us with a timely article on this subject matter and how to get started in the performance pay world. Calls for homeland defense have led us to ask over and over again, what is the role of behavior analysis in this new era? To this question, behavior analysts have much to offer. Indeed, we are planning a future issue for the Behavior Analyst Today to be devoted to Behavior Analysis and homeland defense. From the socialization of individuals with conduct disorders to ensuring that the 20% of gifted children who underachieve, receive the skills necessary to maximize their potential, behavior analysis has a say about change and about tolerance. On the tolerance issue, Skinner, Cautilli and Hantula offer a functionalist perspective on Ebonics and place the perspective in light of the changing culture of language studies. Even more locally in Pennsylvania, behavior analysis is still on the verge of adding its knowledge to redesigning the overly costly mental health system. Still many would oppose suggestions from behavior analysts in spite of the state's acknowledged claim that it wants to shift from a focus on service to a focus on treatment. As surveys of psychotherapists have taught us, the percentage of patients who receive behavioral (and even cognitive) treatments for anxiety disorders has decreased (Goisman, Rogers, Stekettee, Warshaw, Cuneo, & Keller, 1993; Plante, Andersen, & Boccaccini, 1999) in spite of the U.S. Surgeon General's (1999) report. We can think of no other area in medicine where the nation's leading doctor issue a list of interventions that are efficacious for particular problems and have such a general disregard by the health community to implement such suggestions. The explanations for the reasons behind this vary but one of the leading reasons is that practitioners are not trained in these techniques (Committee on Accreditation, 2000). Another is that clinicians are biased against using such practices (Addis & Krasnow, 2000; Sanderson, 1995). In Pennsylvania Best Practice Documents are listed on the Office of Medical Assistance and Substance Abuse Website, yet none of the documents list anything about functional assessment, contingency management or any of the other techniques that the Surgeon General has endorsed for the treatment of children. Part of this reason is that no one in Pennsylvania's Children and Adolescent Service System Provider Institute (CASSP Institute), the training wing for all mental health service providers, is certified in behavior analysis. They unfortunately see behavior analysis as only useful for developmental disabilities and have missed that the Surgeon General (1999, Chapter 3) has endorsed behavioral treatment techniques for childhood disorders as varied as anxiety (Goisman, Rogers, & Keller, 1999) and oppositional defiant disorder. Maybe readers should stop by the website and let them know otherwise. Behavior analysis has a place not only in the United States, but as the University re-opens in Kabul we need to think about we could provide to the Afghan people. …

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow: Looking back at a year of growth and forward to our new century.

Two years ago, the authors were invited as panelists to Delaware Valley Association for Behavior Analysis (DVABA) to speak about the new Pennsylvania Certification for Behavior Analysts. At the time, we greeted the process with the belief vaguely reminiscent of Kevin Kostner's film Field of Dreams: a profession and they will come! The time has come to look back and reflect on the changes that have come about in Pennsylvania and possible changes in the future. We believe that our accomplishments are reflective of how all analysts in Pennsylvania have worked to create usage in Pennsylvania. Indeed, analysts who point to Pennsylvania as a model for the profession should remember the following people who have been instrumental. Saul Axelrod, mentor and friend to both authors, has for years (the cold years, when analysis was harshly dismissed) advocated for analysis, and in conjunction with Philip Hineline was able to start the state's first master's program in Applied Behavior Analysis at Temple University. Fran Warkomski, Director, Bureau of Special Education (BSE) Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), was critical in beginning our state's program for certification of analysts. This had been identified as a critical need in providing quality services to children with autism (see Warkomski, 2000). Richard Foxx took the lead to build the Pennsylvania Association for Behavior Analysis (PennABA) and with the help of its officers (Rick Kubina, Kimberly Schreck, Beth Rosenwasser, and Richard Weissman) organized the first annual Pennsylvania Conference on Behavior Analysis in March of 2001. Michael Weinberg and Patrick Progar consecutively led the local chapter of Delaware Valley ABA (DVABA) that provides regular business/educational/social meetings for analysts in the Delaware Valley. Penn State University has also been instrumental, first with its creation of a certification program for analysts, then with its master's program in analysis (more details on their program in this issue). Finally, the editorial staff and interns for the Behavior Analyst Today (BAT) have shown commitment and dedication in bringing these issues home to readers. In particular, the authors would like to recognize our associate editor, Maggie Hancock, who has often put aside her own writing to dedicate time to helping other authors. CREATING USE In spite of early entry into the field (Cautilli & Skinner, 1996), many analysts were weary of Pennsylvania's Behavioral Health Rehabilitation programs for Children and Adolescents, with good reasons. The first was that many of the programs were poorly designed (Cautilli, Rosenwasser, & Clarke, 2000). The second was that limited staff and high rates of reimbursement had allowed for many unqualified people to find their way into performing specialist work (Cautilli & Rosenwasser, 2001). The third was the general lack of knowledge of behavior specialists in designing treatment plans, setting goals for clients, consulting to teachers, and training parents. In short this was a good place for analysts to be; however, analysis was still having difficulty with disseminating its findings (see Cautilli, Rosenwasser, & Skinner, 1996) In the last year, we have advocated heavily for analysts and supported them to move into key administrative positions to use their knowledge of organizational management (OBM). OBM can be used to train staff (Cautilli & Rosenwasser, 2001) and operationally build behavioral health rehabilitation programs (Cautilli & Clarke, 2000; Hancock, Cautilli, Rosenwasser, & Clarke, 2000; Thomas & Cautilli, 2000). In an effort to disseminate, we have presented at local and international conferences on the use of organizational management to improve these areas (e.g., Cautilli & Clarke, 2001; Cautilli, Clarke, & Weinberg, 2001; Cautilli, Henry, & Santilli-Connor, 2000; Cautilli, Henry, & Weinberg, 2001). …

Over the counter service versus training and treatment efficacy: What will behavioral health rehabilitation (wrap-around) programs strive to be?

This article is a part of the on-going series of operational, management and consulting issues that appear in developing and running a behavioral health rehabilitation (wrap-around) program. It is recommended that readers begin this series with reading the first article in the first issue of the behavior analyst today (e.g., Cautilli & Clarke, 2000) and work through all of the articles. These articles draw on an organizational behavior management perspective to structure what many have come to see as unstructured at best. Services rendered in the child's home, school and community. Since the first article, we have set out to cover three major objectives: keeping costs low , scheduling in an efficient manner (Cautilli, Rosenwasser, & Clarke, 2000), and enhancing performance of the key players (Cautilli & Santilli-Connor, 2000; Hancock, Cautilli, Clarke, & Rosenwasser, 2000; Thomas & Cautilli, 2000). These objectives often lead to trade-offs between components. For example, the cost of a new supervisor is often a trade-off against the increased performance to the teams under the supervisor's care. It becomes important to recognize that tradeoffs in training, education of key personnel, and a process of developing a continuum of care through expertise and specialization instead of simply developing new programs to provide a continuum of care will ultimately prove more efficacious. Additionally forms compliance should never replace sound clinical decision-making. Also, the way that BHRP programs build partnerships is important to the smooth functioning of such programs. This paper discusses these issues while examining the direction that BHRP's should not but unfortunately seem to have taken. THE COSTS VERSES BENEFIT OF COMPETENCY IN PROVIDING A TRUE CONTINUUM OF CARE The goal of Behavioral Health Rehabilitation Programs (BHRPs) that wish to survive in the current health care environment is to create an agency that fosters a continuous learning environment. Such an environment will increase employee dedication and loyalty, through the use of training to build skills of employees and take an active role in professional development. Thomas & Cautilli, (2000) suggest that such agencies will foster development and promote Behavior Specialist Consultants (BSC), Mobile Therapists (MT) and Therapeutic Staff Support (TSS) who become expert in the treatment of specific issues facing children in their care. This allows the agency to expand their continuum, while increasing the efficacy of their treatment. Pre-service training that focuses on clinical issues likely to be encountered in the field will greatly improve the quality and effectiveness of the services the clinician will provide (Thomas & Cautilli, 2000). These practices will be especially important during the predicted future worker shortages in the mental health field, where potential workers can be particularly choosey about their employment opportunities. While studies have shown that organizations routinely invest as much as 85% of their income in salaries to compensate adequately trained professionals they invest only as much as 1% of income to maintain or improve the skills of their current professionals. Current data suggests that a 30:1 ratio of increase in job performance can be obtained for each investment in training and education of employees. Yet much of the training offered by BHRPs focuses on paperwork and policy over performance, management, and increasing clinical effectiveness. We suggest that BHRPs should reinvest 3-5% of their gross salaries into professional development for their employees. This money should be targeted for education programs and training in performance enhancement, time management, managerial enhancement, and specific clinical training. In order to ensure that BHRPs are attracting and retaining the best clinicians, training should be linked to employee compensation packages through the use of skill based pay systems. …

Optimal design for wave spectrum estimates

Non-stationarity in an actual wave field restricts the application of the existing methods of estimating spectra. Despite the enormous amount of research work in the past, an analyst today is still faced with the lack of a unique procedure capable of providing a spectrum estimate which can be considered as the most accurate for the wave data collected under conditions where the stationarity assumption is in doubt. In this paper a generalized method is presented for estimating one dimensional frequency spectrum considering the non-stationarity. The generalized method and the associated design relations provide an effective measure for assessing the statistical quality of spectrum estimates, and a natural criterion as to how to select an optimal sample size. Concepts are illustrated by actual wave data analysis* and the validity of the procedure is demonstrated by simulation. In a simple manner, all concepts and methods developed for the non-stationary frequency spectrum apply to the wave number spectrum with spatial inhomogeneity. For simplicity, the presentation here will be primarily directed to the frequency spectrum.

OPTIMAL DESIGN FOR WAVE SPECTRUM ESTIMATES

Non-stationarity in an actual wave field restricts the application of the existing methods of estimating spectra. Despite the enormous amount of research work in the past, an analyst today is still faced with the lack of a unique procedure capable of providing a spectrum estimate which can be considered as the most accurate for the wave data collected under conditions where the stationarity assumption is in doubt. In this paper a generalized method is presented for estimating one dimensional frequency spectrum considering the non-stationarity. The generalized method and the associated design relations provide an effective measure for assessing the statistical quality of spectrum estimates, and a natural criterion as to how to select an optimal sample size. Concepts are illustrated by actual wave data analysis* and the validity of the procedure is demonstrated by simulation. In a simple manner, all concepts and methods developed for the non-stationary frequency spectrum apply to the wave number spectrum with spatial inhomogeneity. For simplicity, the presentation here will be primarily directed to the frequency spectrum.

Gas Well Testing in a Fractured Carbonate Reservoir

Abstract During interpretation of pressure buildup tests on gas wells in a tight dolomite gas reservoir, peculiar behavior was noticed. Two straight lines were apparent. Effective permeability to gas taken from either straight line was about the same, and the Miller-Dyes-Hutchinson dimensionless time check for the straight line was proper for both straight lines. Geological data indicated the likelihood of scattered trending fractures in the reservoirs. Since the first straight line yielded permeability values close to the geometric mean permeability from core analyses, it was postulated that the reservoir model was that of an acidized well completed in the tight dolomite, but that widely scattered hairline fractures caused the mean permeability of the reservoir distant from the well to be higher than the matrix permeability. Because all other studies of fractured reservoirs to the authors' knowledge assumed that the fracture matrix was dense enough to communicate directly with the well, no interpretative methods were available. The Hurst line-source solution for a radial change in permeability for interference between oil reservoirs was adapted to pressure buildup testing. The result indicated that the first straight line should yield the proper matrix permeability and wellbore skin effect. The second straight line may be extrapolated to obtain static pressure. The time of bend between the straight lines was used to estimate distance to a fracture. Application to field test data is shown. It is believed that the methods developed and the case history presented will add to present tools available for pressure buildup interpretation. Introduction Since the pioneer studies by Miller, Dyes, and Hutchinson and Horner in 1950 and 1951, well test analysis has become recognized as one of the most powerful tools available to both production and reservoir engineers. Well test analysis serves as a logical basis for well stimulation and completion analysis, and for long-term reservoir engineering. Since the early 1950's, much effort has been placed on the development of well-test analytical methods. Reservoir and well conditions of increasing complexity have been considered systematically to provide the analyst with a catalog of causes and effects. Matthews and Russell state that some 200 papers dealing with this subject have been published in the last 35 years. Developments in well test analysis appear to have originated in one of two ways. Either a physically realistic field condition was anticipated and analytical solutions for the condition achieved, or anomalous field test behavior was recognized and interpretative methods sought for the anomaly. In recent years, it has appeared that the latter has inspired an increasing number of studies. The analyst today finds an increasing number of known cause and effect studies available for well test analysis, the classic of which is that of finding the specific flow problem that generated the answer the well behavior. Although it may be impossible to achieve this goal uniquely, the analyst often is able to select a useful interpretation that combines all known performance and geologic dataor to show that various logical alternatives would not significantly affect the interpretation. During a recent reservoir study, we observed gas well test behavior that did not appear to fit behavior described previously. Although it cannot be said that we have found a unique interpretation, we shall present in this paper the peculiar behavior observed, and describe the reservoir and interpretative methods developed. Reservoir Description The subject gas reservoir is a 9-mile-long, narrow dolomite reservoir lying within a limestone of Ordovician age. (See Fig. 1.) The dolomitized rock in the field consists of dark brown to buff, dense to coarsely crystalline, vugular dolomite containing numerous hairline fractures, many of which may have been closed in the reservoir and parted when cores were brought to the surface. Larger fractures are also apparent in core, but usually are filled and sealed with euhedral dolomite crystals. Portions of the north flank of the reservoir are known to be cut by a sealing fault downthrown to the north. Gas wells located near the fault have higher open flow potentials than those more distant from the fault. This is believed to be a result of higher permeability near the fault due to more extensive and open fractures. Detailed coring and core analysis have been performed on several of the wells in this reservoir.

The SEC and the Financial Analyst—Today and Tomorrow

Commissioner Jack M. Whitney, II, holds a J.D. degree from the School of Law, and a B.S. degree from the School of Commerce, of Northwestern University. Following graduation he was associated with the Chicago law firm of Bell, Boyd, Marshall & Lloyd, of which he was a member at the time of his appointment to the Securities and Exchange Commission. During World War II he was a Naval officer in the Supply Corps.