A Collection of Tributes to Dr. Patricia J. Krantz
Introduction by David Celiberti, PhD, BCBA-D
Earlier this year, the autism community lost one of its earliest pioneers, Dr. Patricia Krantz, Executive Director Emerita of the Princeton Child Development Institute (PCDI). Aside from being a skilled clinician and a prolific researcher, she was also very committed to training and dissemination both here in the United States and abroad. I first met Pat Krantz over 30 years ago when I was a graduate student at Rutgers University. I was fortunate to observe her program and to hear her speak countless times. She was consistently insightful, inspiring, and witty. As I embarked on my career, I vividly recall a presentation I gave in the mid-1990s. It was the first time that I spoke in front of an audience of several hundred parents and professionals. Pat was sitting toward the front of the auditorium which raised my anxiety considerably. Given my anxiety, I could not bring myself to look at her directly but as I got deeper into my presentation, I mustered the courage to look in her general direction. I remember seeing small, subtle, affirmative nods in my peripheral vision. These moments were perhaps among the most validating in my career given who she was, what she created, and the research that she conducted that helped shape how we conceptualize best practices and high-quality intervention. We have asked a few of her close colleagues to share their experiences and some thoughts about Pat and the indelible imprint she left behind. We do better in our important work with individuals with autism because of Pat.
A Catalyst for the Growth and Ascension of PCDI
Edward C. Fenske, MAT, EdS
Executive Director Emeritus
Princeton Child Development Institute
A Catalyst for the Growth and Ascension of PCDI
In the summer of 1975, I was a graduate student in Special Education. At the mid-point of my master’s degree program, I felt the need for some practical experience to supplement my academic studies. I had developed an interest and curiosity about autism through my readings and learned that the Princeton Child Development Institute was providing services to this population. On a whim, I picked up the phone and called PCDI to inquire about the possibility of employment. Patricia Krantz answered the phone. She and Lynn McClannahan were recently hired as PCDI’s Executive Directors. As luck would have it, they were hiring, and Pat scheduled my interview. Apparently, I was on a lucky streak and they hired me. Thus, began my 39-year career in autism intervention under the mentorship and training of Doctors Krantz and McClannahan.
My initial pre-service training consisted of didactic workshops on the principles of applied behavior analysis and role-plays on discrete-trial instruction and data collection. However, by far the most valuable training I received was hands-on with our students. Pat modeled behavioral teaching procedures, contingent reinforcement, error correction, and data collection. My initial attempts to imitate her models were met with her praise and constructive feedback. Her training and feedback continued throughout my career. When her research produced new science-based teaching procedures, these techniques were added to the PCDI curriculum and she provided hands-on training to me and my colleagues so that our students would benefit from her research.
In 1975, Pat and Lynn inherited a program with an enrollment of nine students. Intervention was provided by the two of them and four newly hired staff members. Little was known about the diagnosis of autism in the 1970’s and effective science-based treatment models were just beginning to emerge. The demand for autism intervention grew collaterally with the increased incidence of autism through the next several decades. As PCDI’s enrollment increased it outgrew successive facilities. The headquarters building moved from rented space in the Princeton Quaker Meeting House to the Stoney Brook School Building on Route 206, which was leased from the Princeton Board of Education. Eventually, a building campaign fund resulted in the purchase of land on Cold Soil Road and the construction of a new building. The original building was later expanded to accommodate the growing enrollment of the education program, the addition of early intervention services, and an adult day program. In 1977, when it became apparent that some of PCDI’s students needed residential services, Pat and Lynn opened Family Focus, a community-based group home. A second group home was added in 1983. Today PCDI’s residential services also include supervised apartments for adults with autism.
Pat not only pushed PCDI to expand its services to individuals with autism, she also challenged each staff member to improve the effectiveness of his/her intervention skills. She routinely asked staff probing questions like, “What’s the next step in this program? What are your professional goals this year?” Her goal was to make PCDI and its staff better today than it was yesterday. There is a quote by Percy Bysshe Shelley, an English poet, that could have been her motto, “Nothing wilts faster than laurels that have been rested upon.” The quality of autism intervention has improved considerably since 1975, in part because of Patricia Krantz. The science of applied behavior analysis lost one of its mega-stars with her passing. She touched many lives throughout her career. Fortunately, her dedication to science-based intervention lives on in the many professionals she mentored. I am so glad I picked up the phone and called PCDI that summer day.
Spreading Knowledge and Science-Based Autism Intervention: A Tribute to Patricia J. Krantz
Gregory S. MacDuff, PhD, BCBA-D
Princeton Child Development Institute
and
Dawn Buffington-Townsend, PhD, BCBA-D
Alliance for Scientific Autism Intervention
Although the goal of this publication is to acknowledge the contributions of Dr. Patricia Krantz to the science of applied behavior analysis, this task cannot be accomplished without also recognizing the efforts of Dr. Lynn E. McClannahan. For more than forty years, Doctors Krantz and McClannahan collaborated to advance science-based intervention and to improve the lives of people with autism.
Replication is a cornerstone of experimentation and as stated by Johnston and Pennypacker (1993), replicating the outcomes produced in an experiment pervades the experimental method. Pat’s efforts to establish and confirm the scientific generality of her work expanded beyond the single-case research findings that she and Lynn produced. It further extended external validation to the design and analysis of human service systems for scientist practitioners who endeavored to establish and maintain effective treatment programs for people with autism. Krantz and McClannahan’s interest in replicating service systems was innovative and, as stated in their 1993 paper on systems analysis, represented an extension of our science because few practitioners at that time designed human service systems with an eye towards antecedent and consequent variables.
One of Pat’s first experiences with systems replication occurred when PCDI adopted and adapted the Teaching-Family Model (T-FM) for its first group home, Family Focus, in 1977 —one of the first community-based group homes for people with autism in New Jersey. Because of this success, PCDI was invited to conduct four additional replications. In 1981, Pat was instrumental in successfully replicating the T-FM in conjunction with the Division of Youth and Family Services in New Jersey, in a project that resulted in the de-institutionalization of 20 children with autism who were relocated to community-based group homes staffed by professional Teaching Parents.
In 1994 the first replication of PCDI’s Education Program and systems approach was initiated with the New York Child Learning Institute (NYCLI) in Queens, New York. Program directors received 12 months of hands-on training at PCDI prior to the opening of their programs and PCDI professionals provided ongoing consultation and evaluation to program directors and their staff members. A second successful replication occurred in September 1996 with the opening of the Institute for Educational Achievement in New Milford, NJ and again in 1999 when the Somerset Hills Learning Institute accepted its first student. Efforts to replicate the Institute’s systems approach were not restricted to the United States. In fact, thanks to Pat’s foresight and skill, educational programs based on applied behavior analysis were established and continue to thrive in Gdansk, Poland and Istanbul, Turkey.
The endurance of the replication sites over time (all five programs continue to operate) may be attributed to the data collection and accountability systems Krantz and McClannahan embedded within the replication process—this includes ongoing measurement of student engagement, staff performance evaluations, and the results of consumer evaluation questionnaires to name but a few. Accountability systems included attendance at annual site directors’ meetings where program directors presented required outcome measures to determine whether they had achieved a criterion-level of performance across measures. If they had not produced data at an expected level, program directors suggested a plan of correction. A replication site’s continued participation in the replication process was contingent upon achieving successful outcomes and efficaciously implementing plans of correction.
The success of each of the replication projects is attributable to the systems posited by McClannahan and Krantz (1993). This includes the use of group contingencies, feedback reciprocity, the use of consumer evaluation feedback, as well as the ongoing evaluation of staff performances and treatment outcomes over time. The endurance of each of the systematic replications undertaken suggests that the outcomes achieved display a high level of external validity and suggests the possibility of achieving an extended service reach for professionals, like Pat, who are motivated to examine the replication of service systems.
Pat’s legacy is embedded in her continual application of the principles that underlie our science and her undying commitment to improving the lives of everyone touched by PCDI’s reach—learners, parents, and staff members alike. Applied behavior analysis and PCDI were fortunate to be influenced by such a professional.
References
Johnson, J. M., & Pennypacker, H. S. (1993). Strategies and tactics of human behavioral research (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
McClannahan, L. E., & Krantz, P. J. (1993). On systems analysis in autism intervention programs, Journal of Applied behavior Analysis, 26, 589-596.
Dr. Patricia J. Krantz: True Scholar, Compassionate Leader, Generous Teacher
Kevin Brothers, PhD, BCBA-D
Executive Director of Somerset Hills Learning Institute
In the Spring of 1983, I was graduating from Rutgers with my BA in Psychology in pursuit of becoming a Clinical Psychologist. I decided to work for a year before starting graduate school. The only job that piqued my interest as I sat at the University Career Center turning the pages of job announcements, was a position at the Princeton Child Development Institute (PCDI). As luck would have it, the window of time in which to apply had passed. Getting to the end of the book I decided to turn back to the PCDI posting and call to see if it really was too late to interview – it wasn’t. Waiting for my interview to begin in the large conference room of the old schoolhouse, I was surrounded by posters with data. The posters reminded me of posters I had seen at an Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy conference while an undergrad, but I couldn’t figure out why they would be at a school. Soon after, Dr. Patricia Krantz, Pat, greeted me. After some conversation and questions, she invited me to work with a child. Despite being in a three-piece suit, or maybe in spite of it, Pat asked me to sit on the floor. She then invited a young boy to sit with me so she could show me how to teach him to read. Within 9 minutes both the boy and I were being successful. I had to know more and said yes to the job offer. That simple behavior of turning a page, improved my life forever.
I came to learn that the data on the walls represented the foundation of the professional life of Dr. Patricia J. Krantz. It didn’t take long to learn that the science of applied behavior analysis was Pat’s passion. Generations of service providers, graduate students, and consumers remain the fortunate beneficiaries of her passion. Together with Dr. Lynn McClannahan, seminal work on effective solutions to significant problems of language, independent living, and organizational behavior management- to name a few- were the hallmark of their decades-long trail-blazing research careers.
All of Pat’s research focused on improving the lives of other people and her reach was global. The lion’s share of Pat’s publications examined strategies for improving language for people with autism. Her ground-breaking work on the use of scripts and script-fading procedures has produced generative and novel language for those once thought of as incapable of speech. Keenly aware of the power of social reinforcers, Pat sought to establish skills that would function as social reinforcers for those interacting with people with autism. Her research tackled difficult language deficits like conversation skills; using: prepositions, complex language arrangements, and gestures; and establishing joint attention.
No challenge was too great for Pat. She astutely worked to demonstrate that people with autism could spend time, often very long periods of time, happily engaged in meaningful, enjoyable, and productive activities. Her work on independent activity schedules started with a simple demonstration that children could attend to a picture of an activity, find it among choices, engage with the activity, clean up, and move on to the next activity without displaying off-task behavior. This process has been studied for more than 30 years and has been shown to be effective across complex activities like home living, leisure, work, self-help, and social skills. Her book Activity Schedules for Children with Autism: Teaching Independent Behavior, co-authored with Lynn McClannahan, has been translated into numerous languages.
Many of Pat’s publications were about procedural integrity and ethical intervention long before those became popular topics. For example, see the book chapter: “Accountability systems for protection of the rights of autistic children and youth.” Although written in 1981, this publication is still an instructive read for anyone working with learners with an IEP or ISP. Similarly, Pat was adept at ensuring that all seven dimensions of applied behavior analysis were attended to not only in her research, but in her practice as well. For example, she ensured that maintenance and generality were central elements of her research designs, and the outcomes she helped her learners achieve, rather than an afterthought.
When I describe the incredible breadth and quantity of research Pat conducted, published, and presented – while building an internationally recognized intervention organization, I might add — I say that she wove many strands of research into a blanket of treatment, a wonderful blanket that has forever improved the lives of so many people. A list of her publications, presentations, and professional activities are well documented in this version of her curriculum vitae.
When asked what her proudest achievement was, she would say receiving the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis (SABA) Award for Enduring Programmatic Contributions to Behavior Analysis. This very fitting award recognized the herculean efforts that Pat and Lynn undertook to establish an autism treatment program that was effective because of its replicable system variables.
Pat was warm, caring, had a great sense of humor, and she was generous. Her generosity could be found on display while hosting guests, at staff get-togethers, even with staff’s children and spouses, and with graduate students. Proof can also be found in her list of publications where a reader will find her willingness to participate in this author’s interest in the recycling behavior of employees that she helped shape into a published thesis. Those who knew her, or her work, owe her a debt of gratitude. I am confident that the most fitting re-payment she would admire would be to imitate her models by operating from, and contributing to, the science she so loved.
Tribute to Pat Krantz
Jane Howard, PhD, BCBA-D and Jill Young, PhD, BCBA-D
Therapeutic Pathways
Mont Wolf. Don Baer. Todd Risley. Barbara Etzel. Judy Favell. Jim Sherman. Betty Hart. Vance Hall. Elsie Pinkston. Fran Horowitz. Lynn McClannahan. Ogden Lindsley. Claire Poulson. John Lutzker. Richard Saunders. Dean Fixsen. Karen Blase. Don Bushell. Chuck Salzberg. Sallie Rule. Dan Hursh. Karen Budd. Barry Parsonson. Trevor Stokes. Francisco Montez.
What if we could time travel to the University of Kansas (KU) in the early 1970’s and spend time with these amazing faculty and their graduate students? We’d find ourselves in the land of giants. Oh, and that’s not the complete roster. There’s another graduate student we would want to meet: Pat Krantz.
Recently arrived with her M.A. from the University of Wisconsin, we drive to Kansas City to meet with Pat. She is a student of Todd Risley. Pat is running – creating really, his Juniper Gardens. It’s incredible what we see: a program for children who are on the wrong side of the developmental and economic divides. We see an ecology designed to counteract a powerful history of biological and environmental mis-contingencies. Watching her work, we see that as she carefully designs the program environment; it is, in turn, generously shaping the skills and perspectives she and Lynn McClannahan will later use to lay the foundation of autism treatment. We see the confidence, the grace, the determination – the sheer “guts” if you will.
No easy task. In the early 70’s there are no existing models of programs that leverage the principles of behavior change to improve the trajectory for individuals with autism. There are also few contingencies to support women who want to carve out a profession. In what field? What is it again? Not psychology? Behavior analysis?
But Pat had Todd – who gave her free reign. She also had an exceptional partner and brilliant colleague in Lynn McClannahan. And even though not her official advisor, she had Barbara Etzel – a mentor extraordinaire for all the women at KU. Let’s also give credit to her parents and 4 brothers; they expected nothing from Pat but her best. Some would say the gifts they enjoyed most were her extraordinary wit and her operatic voice. But others might say that her most important quality was never “phoning it in.” No Instagraming it. No TikToking. Pat was present. Engaged. A passionate scientist-practitioner on a mission. Her mission? Go beyond the University walls, beyond the studies, beyond individual pieces of data, to demonstrate that behavior analysis, applied in the real world, under real world contingencies, could produce meaningful differences in the lives of individuals with autism.
Aside from the early reports from Todd Risley and Mont Wolf, and somewhat encouraging signs from Ivar Lovaas’s early publications, the field was fairly silent about what autism treatment might look like. And so, armed with science, a love of systems, and a broken-down van, she and Lynn arrived in Princeton, New Jersey.
The year was 1975.
1975. The year named “International Women’s Year” by the United Nations. The year the first “World Conference on Women” was held in Mexico City, Mexico to open the dialogue on global discrimination against women. The year that Time magazine named the “American Woman” as its person of the year; proclaiming that “enough U.S. women have so deliberately taken possession of their lives that the event is spiritually equivalent to the discovery of a new continent.” The year that Ruth Ginsburg, won Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld based on the idea that a social security provision had discriminated against men acting as caregivers, and women serving as breadwinners.
1975, the year that New Jersey voters rejected the state’s Equal Rights Act.
Despite – or enhanced by – the eco-challenges she faced; Pat became a towering figure in the field of evidence-based treatment of autism. She faced significant challenges as a woman and as a behavior analyst to become an exceptional change agent for good.
Through her experience at KU and with absolute clarity about the potential of this new applied science, Pat took the principles and methodologies of behavior analysis and breathed life into their application on a programmatic level to improve the lives of children, youth, and adults with autism and their families.
Was this the land of giants? Maybe. Or, maybe it was everyday women and men working together, learning together, doing extraordinary work together; work that continues today because we have their shoulders to stand on. Thank you, Dr. Patricia J. Krantz. On your shoulders we can see further and aim higher.
Citation for this article:
Celiberti, D., Brothers, K., Buffington-Townsend, D. Fenske, E., Howard, J., MacDuff, G., & Young, J. (2020). A collection of tributes to Dr. Patricia J. Krantz. Science in Autism Treatment, 17(10).
