applied behavior analysis

Dr. Shabani recently joined the Department of Psychology at California State University, Los Angeles.  He has been working with children with autism and related disabilities for over 10 years and is executive director of the Shabani Institute. He is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. Dr. Shabani received his BA degree in Psychology from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1997. He continued his graduate training in Psychology at theUniversity of the Pacific in Stockton, California where he earned a master's degree under the supervision of Dr. David Wilder.

Dr. Shabani received his Ph.D. in Behavior Analysis under the supervision ofDr. James Carr at Western Michigan University. He completed a pre-doctoral internship at The Marcus Institute in 2005 under the supervision of Dr. Wayne Fisher, Dr. Cathleen Piazza, and Dr. Henry Roane.

Dr. Shabani's primary research interests are in the area of autism and related developmental disabilities. This area of research focuses on increasing appropriate behaviors such as language and decreasing inappropriate behaviors. He is also interested in research related to social skills, language training, assessment and treatment of problem behavior hierarchies, schedule research, discrete trial instruction, variables associated with resistance to extinction, maintenance and generalization of treatment gains, instructional design, and human operant research.

Dr. Shabani has also published in a variety of scientific journals including the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis , Research in Developmental Disabilities , Behavioral Interventions , The Behavior Analyst Today, North American Journal of Psychology .

Selected publications:

Shabani, D. S., Carr, J. E., & Petursdottir, A. I. (in press) A Laboratory Model for Studying Response-Class Hierarchies. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis.

Shabani, D. S., & Fisher, W. W. (2006). Stimulus fading and differential reinforcement for the treatment of needle phobia in a youth with autism. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 39, 449-452.

Currently featured: Autism Healing Thresholds

Sidener, T. S., Shabani, D. B., Carr, J. E., & Roland, J. (2006). An evaluation of strategies of maintain mands at practical levels. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 27, 632-644.

Carr, J. E., & Shabani, D. B. (2005). Maintenance. In A. M. Gross & R. S. Drabman (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Behavior Modification and Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Vol. 2 - Child Clinical Applications (pp. 897-901). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Sidener, T. M., Shabani, D. B., & Carr, J. E. (2004). A review of the Behavioral Evaluation Strategy and Taxonomy (BEST®) software application. Behavioral Interventions, 19, 275-285.

Shabani, D. B., Carr, J. E., Petursdottir, A. I., Esch, B. E., & Gillett, J. N. (2004). Scholarly productivity in behavior analysis: The most prolific authors and institutions from 1992 to 2001. The Behavior Analyst Today, 5, 235-243.

Shabani, D. B., & Carr, J. E. (2004). An evaluation of response cards as an adjunct to standard instruction in university classrooms: A systematic replication and extension. North American Journal of Psychology, 6, 85-100.

Shabani, D. B., Katz, R. C., Wilder, D. A., Beauchamp, K., Taylor, C. R., & Fischer, K. J. (2002). Increasing social initiations in children with autism: Effects of a tactile prompt. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 35, 79-83.

Shabani, D., Wilder, D., & Flood, W. (2001). Reducing stereotypic behavior through self-monitoring and differential reinforcement of other behavior. Behavioral Interventions, 16, 279-286.