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ABA Inside Track

Episode 35 - Response Interruption and Redirection w/ Dr. Bill Ahearn

ABA Inside Track

Robert Parry-Cruwys

Social Sciences, Science, Education

4.7634 Ratings

🗓️ 2 August 2017

⏱️ 82 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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This week we're joined by special guest, Dr. Bill Ahearn, to discuss response interruption and redirection (RIRD).  We discuss the fascinating history of how this popular treatment for vocal stereotypy came to be, the ins and outs of implementing the treatment, when to use it, and, more importantly, when NOT to use it.  Plus, some helpful troubleshooting tips for practitioners and why you shouldn't pronounce it "rrrrird".

Articles discussed this episode:

Ahearn, W.H., Clark, K.M., MacDonald, R.P.F., & Chung, B.I.  (2007).  Assessing and treating vocal stereotypy in children with autism.  Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 40, 263-275.  doi: 10.1901/jaba.2007.30-06

Colon, C.L., Ahearn, W.H., Clark, K.M., & Masalsky, J.  (2012).  The effects of verbal operant training and response interruption and redirection on appropriate and inappropriate vocalizations.  Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 45, 107-120.  doi: 10.1901/jaba.2012.45-107

Colon, C.L. & Ahearn, W.H.  (in prep).  An analysis of treatment integrity of response interruption and redirection.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey everybody and welcome to ABA Inside Track, the podcast that's like reading in your car, but safer.

0:20.4

I'm your host robert perry

0:21.4

cruz and with me as always are my fabulous co-hosts hey rob hi it's diana hey diana hey

0:30.3

hi is jackie i'm eating cheez-its that's great jackie thanks for coming you're welcome those aren't

0:35.2

your chees-its by the way. Oops.

0:35.6

And we also have a very special guest co-host, Dr. Bill O'Hern. Hi, Bill. How are you doing? I'm doing great. How are you guys? We are excellent. Bill was kind enough to bring refreshments, even though he's our guest. We should have brought something for him. That's true. I thought about it actually, but then I didn't have time.

0:36.5

Thank you, Bill. Your pleasant company is good enough.

0:37.8

Yes.

0:39.3

So for those of you who are in Massachusetts, you probably know Dr. Ahern because he has been instrumental in licensure for behavior analysts here in Massachusetts. But if you are not in Massachusetts or the New England area and have not seen him talk or have not seen him at one of the many conferences, Bill, could you tell us a little bit about yourself in general?

1:16.7

Sure. I've been in the field for about 30 years. I was trained as an experimental psychologist. I was a student of Phil Heinlein's at Temple University.

1:30.9

And when I finished up my PhD, I decided that if I was going to go and continue to do research, it would be a good idea to get some

1:35.8

applied experience. That would better inform the type of research that I was planning to do. So I did a postdoc

1:43.0

at the Kennedy-Krigger Institute, and after a year of that,

1:47.4

I spent three years in Philadelphia at the Children's Seashoard House, working with kids with

1:52.7

pediatric feeding disorders. Around that time, the treatment of autism with applied behavior

1:59.0

analysis was really starting to take off and I sought places to go

2:04.7

and I've been at the New England Center for Children since 1996 and enjoying the growth of our field

2:11.4

quite a lot. Excellent. So today we have you here because we're going to talk about response

2:17.1

interruption and redirection.

2:19.0

Or, Jaggie, how do we pronounce that?

2:22.1

I think that we should pronounce it.

2:23.8

I, R-I-R-R-D, but I have heard people say RERD.

...

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