Judah B. Axe
Dr. Judah Axe is a Professor of Behavior Analysis at Simmons University in Boston, Massachusetts, where he teaches in the on-ground and online master’s and Ph.D. programs. He has spent the last 25 years advancing the skills of autistic children through research and practice. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Applied Behavior Analysis and Special Education from The Ohio State University.
Dr. Axe’s lab focuses on teaching verbal behavior, improving social skills, and reducing challenging behavior. He has published over 40 articles and book chapters, and he authored the 10th edition of the textbook, Applied Behavior Analysis for Teachers.
Dr. Axe serves on the editorial boards of five research journals in ABA. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the B.F. Skinner Foundation, on the Scientific Council of the Organization for Autism Research, and as a trustee of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. He previously served as a co-coordinator for the Verbal Behavior area of the Association for Behavior Analysis International conference and Chair of the Verbal Behavior Special Interest Group (VB SIG). He was overjoyed to receive the 2021 Award for Excellence in Teaching Verbal Behavior from the VB SIG.
Presentation at the ABA International Conference 2025
Antecedent Interventions for Challenging Behavior
Abstract:
Intensive teaching is often needed for students with autism and related disabilities, but it often results in challenging behavior motivated by escape from the teaching situation. There are several antecedent, or preventative, interventions for decreasing challenging behavior during intensive instruction, including errorless teaching, the high probability request sequence, and presession pairing. The presenter will discuss the conceptual and procedural aspects of these interventions and share research on these techniques. This will include a discussion of reflexive conditioned motivating operations (CMO-R), mand training, functional communication training, and conditioned reinforcement.