Alla barn med autism har utmaningar med socialt samspel. Många av dem har också avvikande ögonkontakt. Att kunna titta andra människor i ögonen är en förutsättning för mer avancerade sociala färdigheter och ökar möjligheterna till delaktighet i lek- och lärandesituationer. Det här kapitlet beskriver hur ögonkontakt hos barn med autism kan främjas på ett lekfullt sätt. I kapitlet ingår ett exempel från en aktuell studie som använder metoder grundade i tillämpad beteendeanalys. Kapitlet syftar även till att fungera som inspiration och vägledning för pedagoger i förskola eller skola.

Lack of social eye contact is a common characteristic of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and can limit opportunities for social interaction and social learning. The current study examined a parent-implemented shaping procedure delivered through telehealth to promote eye contact during naturalistic social play for two preschool-aged children with ASD in India. The intervention was implemented without prompting or nonsocial reinforcers, instead relying on preferred social activities. Both children learned to make eye contact, of various durations, across different activities. Self-reports from the participating parents, along with individualized indices of happiness observed in the children, indicate a high degree of social validity. The findings support and extend prior research on shaping without prompting, suggesting that socially maintained eye contact in children with ASD can develop through flexible, naturalistic methods implemented by parents with remote supervision. Limitations of the study and directions for future research are discussed.

Shaping is an effective and well-established gradual change procedure for teaching new skills that is sometimes combined with other strategies, such as prompting. However, to the best of our knowledge, no review has been published that provides an overview of applications of response shaping in interventions for persons with developmental disabilities. While it is possible to combine response shaping with various prompts, it can also be used without prompts. Results of the current scoping review include a description of the reviewed studies, and a synthesis of the findings. This includes a study of participant samples, experimental designs, teaching settings, assessments used, social validity, and shaping outcomes. This includes a study of participant samples, experimental designs, teaching settings, assessments used, social validity, and shaping outcomes. A majority of the studies targeted persons with autism spectrum disorder, even though other diagnoses were also represented. Most studies employed single-case experimental designs and reported positive outcomes of response shaping, for a variety of target behaviors. This presentation will highlight and discuss the presence or absence of prompting in the reviewed studies. 

Behavior analysts are not recognized or regulated as a distinct profession in Europe. For the most part, European behavior analysts adhered to the standards set by the U.S.-based Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB). However, the BACB certification has not been recognized officially in any European jurisdiction. The recent decision by the BACB to discontinue eligibility of non-U.S. residents to apply for the BCBA exam by the end of 2022 has brought the issue of professional regulation outside of the United States into sharp focus. This article offers a snapshot in time of professional recognition of behavior analysts in 21 European countries. It stems from the Erasmus+ funded EuroBA project and its Professional Advisory Group (PAG). The EuroBA project aims to develop common standards and competences for behavior analysts to facilitate national regulation and mutual recognition across Europe.

Following the Behavior Analyst Certification Board's decision to change its requirements for certification, a three-year (2020-2023) Erasmus+ project was initiated, involving researchers from universities in six European countries: Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden and the UK (Northern Ireland). The objectives of the current project are to ensure transparency and recognition of skills and qualifications for behavior analysts in Europe, to improve future support of persons with special needs, as well as mobility and employability of professionals. In practice, this includes developing professional standards and competency profiles for entry-level and masters-level European behavior analysts, referenced to the European Qualifications Framework, and developing a mulitingual entry-level online course; an updated version of Simple Steps Autism. Furthermore, a professional advisory group consisting of behavior analysts from another sixteen European countries has been created. This presentation will provide an overview of the contents and the current status of this collaborative international project.

Previous research indicates that indices of happiness (IOH) can provide useful information regarding the social validity of behavioural interventions. One way to measure happiness might be to simply ask the participants how they are feeling. However, when focusing on populations lacking the skills to effectively communicate their internal emotional states, such as young children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), indices other than verbal self-reports are necessary. Monitoring observable behaviours likely correlated with states of happiness can be one method. In this study, IOH were measured in two young children diagnosed with ASD, in a naturalistic parent-implemented play-based shaping intervention to improve eye contact. IOH were measured in three different social play activities per child. The parents were trained and supervised via telehealth. IOH were individualized and operationally defined for each child, based upon parent responses to a pre-intervention questionnaire, and monitored via video recordings. Interobserver agreement was 92% (range 88-100%). The results, as measured by the observed pre and post intervention IOH, as well as parents' self-reports, indicate a high degree of social validity. This study was a collaboration between Stockholm University and Behavior Momentum India, conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Following the Behavior Analyst Certification Board's decision to change its requirements for certification, a three-year Erasmus+ project was initiated, involving researchers from universities in six European countries: Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden and the UK (Northern Ireland). The objectives of the current project are to ensure transparency and recognition of skills and qualifications for behaviour analysts in Europe, to improve future support of persons with special needs, as well as mobility and employability of professionals. In practice, this includes developing professional standards and competency profiles for entry-level and masters-level European behaviour analysts, referenced to the European Qualifications Framework, and developing a mulitingual entry-level online course. Furthermore, a professional advisory group consisting of behaviour analysts from another fourteen European countries has been created. This presentation will provide an overview of the contents and the current status of this collaborative international project.

Deficits in eye contact are a common feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and has been found to negatively affect learning opportunities. Previous research has shown shaping without prompting to be effective in teaching eye contact to children diagnosed with ASD (Fonger & Malott, 2019). The current collaborative study between Behavioral Momentum, India, and Stockholm University, Sweden, conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, evaluated the effects of a shaping procedure, implemented by parents trained and supervised via telehealth, to teach two preschool-aged children with ASD to make eye contact in naturalistic social play interactions. A changing criterion design across settings was used. For each child, eye contact was taught in three different child-preferred play settings where the parent was a necessary component. The target behavior was divided into Mve successive shaping phases. Both children acquired eye contact for a duration of 1 to 2 seconds across several settings. Results suggested a high degree of social validity, as measured by the participating parents' selfreports as well as individualized indices of happiness observed in the two children.Furthermore, this study conMrms that when cultural aspects are taken into consideration, telehealth can be used to train and supervise parents across geographical regions.