Risley, Todd R.

Todd R. Risley (1937–) was among the behavioral scientists responsible for the development and refinement of applied behavior analysis. He was a faculty member in the Department of Human Development and Family Life at the University of Kansas during the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s. Along with Donald Baer, Montrose Wolf, and R. Vance Hall, he studied those environmental variables that affected the lives of children, adults, and families within the ongoing context of their daily lives. Risley's work influenced the field of education via (a) his work on the impact of early experiences in the home environment on academic performance, vocational success, and the nature of life outcomes, (b) his work in the areas of single-subject research design and the development of research methods allowed for the study of behavior in the context of their natural setting, and (c) his work related to positive behavioral support. For educational leaders, Risley's work is important in its melding of direct, systematic observation with contextual understanding of human behavior, allowing for a greater depth of understanding of the environmental influences on individual behavior.

Risley's work in the area of positive behavioral support involved an emphasis on addressing challenges in the natural ecological context of their occurrence. Pragmatically, the environment in which the challenging behavior developed and was maintained was the only place that sustainable solutions could be identified and implemented. Risley also identified three levels of behavioral interventions for positive behavioral supports: (1) the behavior analytic level—in essence the level at which the relationships between antecedents, behaviors, and consequences were analyzed and arranged to bring about desirable outcomes, (2) the contingency management level—in which consequences were structured to enhance the regular occurrence of target behaviors, and (3) the life arrangements level—involving the emphasis on lifestyle and focusing on quality of life as both an intervention and outcome.

In the area of research, Risley coauthored the seminal article on the dimensions of applied behavior analysis with Wolf and Baer, as well as a partner article with them 20 years later. This work defined the direction and initial parameters of the field. However, Risley's most significant contribution to the area of educational research was the development of the action research model. He pioneered a field-based model in which research was conducted within the context of the lives of families. Research problems involved real persons, in real situations, with real problems. School-based action research has its foundation in Risley's ongoing professional work.

Risley's most notable work involved the effect of early experiences on life outcomes, particularly that of the impact of early experiences on language acquisition and proficiency. Years of research in this area led to a seminal work on the development of language in young children and those variables embedded in the environmental structure, which directly influenced the nature of an individual's functional language ability. Risley's results indicated that almost all the variance in the measured intelligence and academic performance of children was due to the amount of talking parents did in the presence of their children. This research, in book form, was later nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

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