In October 2025, OAR’s Board of Directors authorized funding for eight applied autism research grants. These new research grants, totaling $397,372, bring OAR’s total research funding to $5.8 million since 2002. This article is the fourth of the previews in The OARacle this year.
Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is a widely-used, evidence-based, cost-effective therapy for autistic individuals. ABA’s central tenets include respect for personal liberties and a commitment to ethical, compassionate, and affirming care. However, the autistic and neurodivergent communities have expressed concern about ABA. Among their concerns are that ABA is antithetical to a neurodiversity perspective and that it emphasizes neurotypical standards or normalization.
Despite a growing emphasis on compassionate and affirming care within the behavioral-analytic profession, there is little research on an assent-based approach. Although consent is a legal requirement, assent is not. It is a human right that is often overlooked for children and individuals with disabilities, particularly if they require higher levels of support. Much of the discussion related to assent in ABA has been conceptual; there have not yet been empirical investigations to test how to teach assent-based practices and assess their efficacy.
That is what Evaluation of an Assent-Based Applied Behavior Analysis Approach, an 18-month, OAR-funded study, proposes to do. The study consists of two parts:
Principal investigator, Noor Syed, PhD, BCBA-D, LBA/LBS, an assistant professor at State University of New York, Empire, has a strong academic and applied background in ABA, collaboration, and knowledge of community-informed, evidence-based practices in support of autistic and neurodivergent individuals. As an assistant professor and director of autism advocacy, her focus is on creating universal supports in tandem with autistic colleagues and students in higher education, and building an ABA graduate program that is focused on compassion.
Her research team includes
Methodology
In the first part of the study, eight to 10 people, including autistic individuals, parents, and caregivers of autistic individuals, will participate in two focus group sessions. They will offer their lived experience as a guide for the instructional design and training approach of the program that will be evaluated in the second part of the study. The participants will answer questions about assent-based practices and social validity in ABA service provision, including questions such as:
In the second part of the study, six direct service providers will receive behavioral skills training to learn how to implement a community-informed, assent-based ABA approach in sessions with their clients, ages 3 to 8. Prior to evaluation of the six pairs in ABA sessions, BCBA consultants will observe clients and providers to determine operational definitions for assent and assent withdrawal by the clients, measures of clients’ happiness, and the providers’ responsivity to assent/assent withdrawal behaviors.
The consultants will work with two of the people with lived experience who participated in the training design and with the principal investigators to review, revise, and finalize definitions. Once those definitions are finalized, the pairs will begin sessions that include 20-minute observations.
Evaluation
The research team will evaluate the sessions based on therapists’ responsivity and the clients’ levels of happiness. Both measures will be obtained through researchers’ observation of the therapy sessions. The research team will measure social validity via feedback from caregivers of the clients, the participating therapists, and the clients themselves to the degree possible. Measures will include acceptability of treatment procedures, clarity, ability to implement and/or assess for the presence of assent-based approaches, and open feedback.
Relevance
The central aim of this study is to “do better ABA” to ensure that client choice, autonomy, and dignity are prioritized within the ABA services they receive. Assent-based approaches are emerging as one of the ways to do better ABA, delivering behavior analytic services in a manner that:
The researchers believe that this study is critical given that ABA, especially its availability for Medicaid-enrolled families, is under threat in New York State and throughout the United States.
If this study can demonstrate ABA’s efficacy as a high-quality, cost-efficient, and socially valid approach, through family and community participation, it can contribute to more awareness of ABA as a high-quality treatment approach. The researchers will assess the study’s impact through quantifying reports, white papers, and leadership contacts from the study as well as feedback from key stakeholders.
Sherri Alms is the freelance editor of The OARacle, a role she took on in 2007. She has been a freelance writer and editor for more than 20 years.
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