Watering Our Roots:

Bringing RFT back to BA

Josh Pritchard, PhDFlorida Tech

Tree of Natural Sciences

Philosophy of Science

Behavior Sciences

Physics

BiologyChemistry

AstronomyEarth sciences

Atmospheric sciences

Our tie in…Evolution

• So – we know that our science has some really good stuff to offer…but why have we gotten there when others have not?

• What exactly do we offer the other sciences? (especially EvoS)

Cognitive Approach

Too Fast.

Golly…it takes so long!

The Behavioral Tradition

Is slow……methodical

...self-correcting …sometimes boring

but gives very robust and strong results

Behavioral Approach

Behavior Sciences

Basic Science

Applied ScienceConcepts and Philosophy

Technology

Autism Treatment

Behavior Sciences

Basic Science

Applied ScienceConcepts and Philosophy

Technology

Autism Treatment

Unfortunately

Autism Treatment?!

We can bring them into that symbolic stream!

Not sure if you play in this world…

• In the ABA world, there’s all sorts of criticisms of it (ABA) being too limited

• Even though Skinner made it clear that he meant it as a comprehensive approach

• With the advent of many BCBAs and third party funding – contingencies surrounding the “ABA of autism” creates systems that promote behavior that can, in fact, be very robotic/dead.

Board Certified Behavior Analyst™

• Over 13,000 certificants!• Independent Practitioners• Have to have at least 225 hours of coursework

in behavior analysis covering the Task List (115 items)

• Have a master’s degree in behavior analysis or another related field

BACB Task List

BACB Task List

• So – of the 115 content items which drive the development of all approved course sequences

• It does not include RFT!• How many are guaranteed to know about

RFT?• How many have even heard of RFT?

Why?

BF Skinner and Jack Michael are all wrong!

Did he just do that?!

The time is now!

What can poor me do?

• Bottom-up• Same way autism works…create a market for

schools to teach it• Get folks comfortable/familiar with RFT • Show them how it works well for their clinical

applications• Here are a few ways that I’ve done it…

Florida Tech School of Behavior Analysis

• We have: – ABA Online (1900 students)– Hybrid MA in ABA (~70-150)– ABA Online CEU modules – MS in ABA (~40 annually)– MS in OBM (~10 annually)– MS in ABA/OBM (~10 annually)– PhD in BA (~3 annually)– BS in ABA (Just launching)

Bottom-Up

• So – I wanted to teach RFT• It wasn’t part of our core curriculum– I might have been able to convince folks to include

it as an elective [but it would take sooo long!]• So I started doing journal article readings each

week• People heard about RFT…and enjoyed what it

allowed our science to do

Summer Fun Course

Those weekly reading students asked me for a course in RFT (fat chance!)So – I did a summer Fun CoursePSI style:

There are readings each week (purple/green book)

Weekly Reading Quiz Weekly Class

Summer Fun Course

Week Topic Green Book Purple Book

1 BackGround/Intro 2 1 & 2

2 Stimulus Relations 3 & 4 3

3Metaphors and Whatnot 5 4 & 5

4 Rules 6 6

5Self-rules & Darkness 7 7

6Recap and Critiques

Palmer Exchange 8

Summer Fun Course

Pick the cRel and cFuncs below…1. A mouse is the same color as an elephant.

2. This game is much more fun for youngsters.

3. I am happier than I have ever been.

4. If your food is too salty, fix it with pepper.

5. Terrorists and congress are equally scary in their foreign policies.

6. Joey runs like a gazelle!

7. If you like baseball, you’re going to love basketball.

8. You throw the ball like a gir

Some Questions…• What is the main difference between an analogy and a

metaphor?• Create either an analogy or a metaphor and explain the various

parts of it (ie - which are the contextual cues, which is the target, the base, what stimulus function is transformed, etc.)

• What is the difference between valuative and strategic problem solving?

• How is the RFT view of self-awareness different than the pigeon who behaves based on their own behavior (ie - they appear aware of their behavior, and change their responses accordingly).

Experienced Purple Hayes

ExpertsHuh?

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 60

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Remaining In Dropped

# of

Stu

dent

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Outcomes

• From the Summer Fun Course:– Now we have 6 students that went to PhD programs

who are continuing to ask their professors for more RFT

– A group of 11 students created a weekly study group to keep examining/reading into the RFT world

• Lodestone Academy• Now it is included as a unit in the online

certification course and the Hybrid MA• Asked to do an RFT unit for our online OBM

sequence

Thanks for your time!

E-mail: josh@joshpritchard.com