Comprehensive Application of Behavior Analysis to Schooling in Italy

Abstract

A systematic replication of Comprehensive Application of Behavior Analysis to Schooling (CABAS®) was conducted in Italy for 5 emergent-listener pre-speaker students with autism. Data were collected across five months, from 12 to 25 hours per week, including all the system components of the U.S. application package. Selinske, Greer & Lodhi (1991) and Lamm & Greer (1991) outcomes were replicated, even during the 12-hour per week package, suggesting even higher efficiency. The experimental replication was then stopped, due to the mandatory enrollment of the Participants in public schools with full inclusion model of education. CABAS®-based programs outcomes applied in a CABAS® environment were so compared with implementation of the same curricula in a regular school environment. Data showed students’ improvement in both conditions, with evidence of higher initial improvement in the CABAS® condition. The third experiment measured CABAS® performance as a training environment for teachers with no previous teaching experience, and compared it with regular elementary school and a learning centre. Data suggested that teachers who received 200 hours of CABAS® training met criteria for the higher amount of teaching expertise and good practice indicators identified in this study. So, future CABAS® applications could promote both students and teachers improvement and represent a significant advancement for the dissemination of science-based educational principles and practices in the country of “teaching as an art”.