My friends over at ABA Inside Track - Robert Parry-Crews, Diana Parry-Crews, and Jackie Macdonald, got together for our third annual year-in-review collaboration.

And suffice to say, what a year it has been. In this episode, we discuss the events of 2020, both in the world of Behavior Analysis and beyond. We spoke at great length about the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on the provision of services, as well as how Behavior Analysis responded to the challenges of racism, policing, and the like. Finally, we round out the episode by honoring the memories of some of the pioneers in our field who passed away in 2020.

So grab a beverage of choice, put your earbuds in, and join us in kicking 2020 to the curb and look forward to a hopefully more reinforcing 2021!

Here is a very likely incomplete list of links to things we discussed:

• Previous Year in Review Shows:
  • 2018 Year in Review.
  • 2019 Year in Review.
• Cox, Plavnick, and Brodhead (2020). A Proposed Process for Risk Mitigation During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
• LeBlanc, et al. (2020). The Role of Compassion and Ethics in Decision Making Regarding Access to Applied Behavior Analysis Services During the COVID-19 Crisis: A Response to Cox, Plavnick, and Brodhead.
• BOP Covid-19 Facebook Banter Part 1.
• BOP Covid-19 Facebook Banter Part 2 (140 comments!).
• Session 116, Wendy Machalicek on Telemedicine.
• Session 13, Megan Miller on Telemedicine.
• Session 113, The Behavioral Economics of Toilet Paper with Derek Reed.
• Session 114, Keep your kids learning at home with Amy Evans.
• Session 121, Coping in Quarantine with Russ Harris.
• Session 128, Mary Jane Weiss.
• Session 120, Listening to Perspectives that Matter (please check out if you missed this one!!!).
• ABA Inside Track 128, Diversity and Inclusion with Adrienne Bradley and Kat Jackson.
• Session 124, Behavior Analysis and policing with John O'Neill.
• Session 138, More on policing with Tina Long and Officer Joe Schlenz.
• BACB Podcast on global certification changes.
• Operants fall issue with Adithyan Rajaraman re: Online instruction.
• In Memoriam:
  • Jack Michael.
  • Jose Martinez-Diaz.
  • Patricia Krantz.

On a final note, I'd be remiss if I didn't say how grateful I am for everyone who listens to and supports the show. I was raised to not discuss money in public, but the pandemic has cut the revenue of my consultation practice by more than half, and despite that, we managed to get through the worst of it because of the support from the audience. So whether you've purchased CEU's, subscribed to the membership community, patronized my wonderful sponsors, or simply shared favorite episodes with friends and minded behavior peeps, you've really come through and helped me avoid what could have been a financial disaster.

For all of this and more, to say that I am thankful doesn't even scratch the surface. I'm looking forward to 2021, and I'm excited to continue to produce and share these conversations. And from my family to yours, please have a happy and safe holiday!

Special thanks to the following (apologies in advance, as they're likely to be folks that I forgot to mention):

• HRIC Recruiting.
• Behavior University.
• Gateway Learning Group's Autism Leadership Academy.
• How-to-ABA.com.
• New Hampshire Association for Behavior Analysis.
• FTF Behavioral Consulting/Greg Hanley.
• Essential for Living/Pat McGreevy.
• Brett DiNovi and Associates.
• Central Reach/Rick Kubina.
• The Applied Behavior Analysis Center/Adrienne Fitzer.
• Connections Behavior Planning and Intervention.
• Britton Behavioral Consulting/Lisa Britton.
• Praxis Continuing Education and Training.
• Hillcrest Educational Centers.
• University of Kent Tizard Centre ABA Program.
• Rich Brooks and the crew at Flyte New Media.
• My friends over at WHOOP.

In Session 141 I speak with Sasha Shtern and Dr. Eric Moody about using the Goally Learning Device with families. Sasha is the CEO of Goally and Eric holds the title of Research Professor at the Wyoming Institute for Disabilities.

Goally is an Android-based stand-alone device that allows users to program visuals schedules, create task analyses, manage token economies, and even log problem behaviors.

In this episode we talk about the conditions that motivated the creation of this device, the research and implementation science that's been conducted with it, and how both clinicians and parents have been using it to support children across their day.

If you'd like to learn more about Goally, click here to check them out. While there, be sure to check out their blog (I found the articles on supporting kids in remote learning situations particularly interesting... here is one of them).

In the spirit of transparency, I'd like to make clear that as of this writing, Goally is not a sponsor of Behavioral Observations, nor is there any affiliate relationship. However, this episode is brought to you with the support of the following:

• How-to-ABA. Being a BCBA can be lonely and overwhelming.  At howtoaba.com, we help BCBA’s feel supported and confident by providing easy to access printables, CEU's and a collaborative community. Imagine, having an all-in-one resource to save you time and help your clients, having getting your toughest questions answered, and being part of a collaborative group of professionals to share ideas. Plus, your monthly pro membership includes CEU’s! Along with over 1000 ABA professionals, howtoaba.com will help you save time, feel confident and master what you love! For more information, Go to howtoaba.com/joinbxresource.  When you join today and use code BOP, you’ll receive 10% off a yearly subscription (includes CEU’s!).
• The Whoop Strap! I've been wearing the Whoop Strap for just a few weeks and I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed getting quantitative information on all aspects of my health, including sleep analytics, heart rate, along with heart rate variability, calorie burn, exercise intensity, and Whoop's proprietary "strain" score. I could extol this neat device's virtues indefinitely to you, but instead, you can go check it out for yourself. To get your first month free, just click here!
• HRIC Recruiting. Barb Voss has been placing BCBAs in permanent positions throughout the US for just about a decade, and has been in the business more generally for 30 years. When you work with HRIC, you work directly with Barb, thereby accessing highly personalized service. So if you're about to graduate, you're looking for a change of pace, or you just want to know if the grass really is greener on the other side, head over to HRIColorado.com to schedule a confidential chat right away.

In Session 140, Dr. John Michael Guercio joins me to talk about best practices for supporting adults with Autism. He is well suited to do just this, as John has been working with adults with various developmental disabilities for decades.

He is currently the Clinical Director for Benchmark Human Services in St. Louis, Missouri, and is the author of the recently published book, "Assessment of Adult Core Competencies: Teaching Skills to Adults with Autism and Severe Behavioral Challenges."

As you'll likely tell, I really enjoyed talking with John, and I think you're likely to learn a lot from his knowledge and expertise in the area of serving adults.

In this episode we obviously get into John's formative experiences in the field of Behavior Analysis and talk about his book for a bit. But we also spend quite a bit of time discussing Behavioral Relaxation Training, escalation, crisis management, and so much more. I really think there's something in here for just about anyone in the field.

Also, early on in the conversation, John and I discover that we both saw the original line up of The Grateful Dead back in the day. Don't worry though if you're not interested in this because we got back on topic right away. However, after the official interview concluded, we resumed this discussion on our favorite jam bands for about 15 minutes, and this bonus footage is available to those who are signed up in the Behavioral Observations Membership group.

John mentioned numerous resources during our chat, and I have attempted to note them all here:

• John's book.
• The Controversial Exchange #16, reacting to Skinner's address to the APA (highly recommended!).
• Guercio et al, 2004: Using stimulus equivalence technology to teach emotion recognition to adults with acquired brain injury.
• Guercio and Dixon, 2011: The Observer Effect and Its Impact on Staff Behavior in an Acquired Brain Injury Neurobehavioral Treatment Setting.
• Guercio and Dixon, 2010: Improving the Quality of Staff and Participant Interaction in an Acquired Brain Injury Organization.
• Wilson, et al., 2014: Exploring the Clinical Utility of a Stimulus Avoidance Model to Enhance a Relaxation Training Model.
• Dr. Camille Kolu's BOP episode on Trauma.
• Dr. Merrill Winston's BOP episode on Restraint.
• Jay Moore: The Conceptual Foundations of Radical Behaviorism.*
• Singh, et al., 2003: Mindfulness on the Soles of the Feet study.
• Dixon, et al., 2015: Research Rankings of Behavior Analytic Graduate Training Programs and Their Faculty.
• LeBlanc, Sellers, and Ala'I, 2020: Building and Sustaining Meaningful and Effective Relationships as a Supervisor and Mentor.*
• The Aura Ring.
• Carr et al, 2013: The original Performance Diagnostic Checklist article, An Assessment-based Solution to a Human-Service Employee Performance Problem.
• Felitti, et al., 1998: Relationship of Childhood Abuse and Household Dysfunction to Many of the Leading Causes of Death in Adults: The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study.
• LaFrance, et al., 2019: Multidisciplinary Teaming: Enhancing Collaboration Through Increased Understanding.
• Adler, et al., 1987: Relaxation Induced Panic (RIP): When Resting Isn't Peaceful.

This show is brought to you with support from the following:

• Gateway Learning Group, and their Autism Leadership Academy. Designed for new Regional Directors, the Autism Leadership Academy develops motivated BCBAs into successful leaders in the autism field. If you’re interested in running your own regional center and want to learn the skills to do so successfully, check out gatewaylg.com/BOP.
• Behavior University. Their mission is to provide university quality professional development for the busy Behavior Analyst. Learn about their CEU offerings, including their brand new 8-hour Supervision Course, as well as their RBT offerings over at behavioruniversity.com/observations.
• The Whoop Strap! I've been wearing the Whoop Strap for just a few weeks and I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed getting quantitative information on all aspects of my health, including sleep analytics, heart rate, along with heart rate variability, calorie burn, exercise intensity, and Whoop's proprietary "strain" score. I could extol this neat device's virtues indefinitely to you, but instead, you can go check it out for yourself. To get your first month free, head over to behavioralobservations.com/whoop!