Guiding Principles for Researchers to Use Culturally Responsive Language in Publications: An Example Regarding Autistic People

Culturally responsive verbal behavior within applied behavior analytic (ABA) publications can promote socially valid research and practice relevant to autism communities. Professional humility demonstrated by adapting our language holds promise for further refining technological descriptions that can facilitate the promotion of meaningful behavioral outcomes and advancing ethical practices within our field concerning diversity, equity, and inclusion. Here, we present four guiding principles for ABA researchers to adopt more culturally responsive writing practices as they relate to autistic people: (1) engage in self-assessment relative to the population(s) being discussed, (2) assess and incorporate preferences and values of the described individual(s) or group(s), (3) explicitly state the rationale for behavior change, and (4) describe behavior, participants, and procedures precisely. We discuss suggestions for how both individual researchers and editorial teams may arrange contingencies to increase adoption of culturally responsive language in published forums. Further, we describe how adopting culturally responsive language in ABA publications may improve the effectiveness and acceptability of designing and evaluating behavior analytic interventions.