This is a fun conversation to share, not only because it involves chatting with three very smart grad students from my alma mater, Auburn University, but also because the topic tackles an issue that is outside of what we might consider the "mainstream" of Applied Behavior Analysis.
A few months ago, Ashley Anderson, Daniel Sheridan, and Anna Kate Edgemon reached out to me, and informed me of the great work they're doing supporting justice-involved youth in a juvenile detention setting.
As I learned, there is some history of behavior analysts practicing in this area, and these grad students, led by Dr. John Rapp and colleagues, have been developing effective interventions in these settings. And when I say effective, I'm talking about incredibly low recidivism rates...
But I'm getting ahead of myself. If this is unfamiliar territory for you, don't worry. We go over enough introductory terms and definitions to get you up to speed straight away.
Also, there are some great meta-lessons embedded in this conversation about rapport building, staff training, cultural competence, teaching real-life skills, and more. So even if this specific topic is not your thing, there are parts of this interview that I think will apply to your practice.
I left this conversation really inspired by the somewhat untapped potential for our field, and I hope the intervention strategies these guests and their colleagues are publishing become adopted at a much wider scale!
This research group has been prolific, and here are some of not only their papers, but others in this space that you might find helpful:
Related to Juvenile Justice (History & Review):
Auburn’s Partnership & Related Research:
This session of Behavioral Observations is brought to you by the following:
El Balance entre la Ciencia y la Cultura con la Dra. Corina Jimenez Gomez
A la Dra Corina Jimenez Gomez le gusta “echar cuentos”. Ella lo atribuye a como fue criada y a su amor a la literatura. En otras palabras, lo atribuye “al reforzamiento diferencial de su conducta verbal”. Tengo que admitir que como Venezolano tenía un gran interés de hablar con una paisana con quien comparto algunas nostalgias y experiencias de emigrante pero también un orgullo y admiración por alguien que puede navegar en océanos académicos, experimentales y aplicados. Como tal, sus adaptaciones a varios lenguajes, culturas y conocimientos le han dado una gran sensibilidad en su comunicación y el abordaje a sus distintas audiencias. Si ella puede construir puentes entre el realismo mágico y el lenguaje científico, quién mejor para examinar nuestras culturas y subculturas dentro de nuestra profesión y para observar cómo interactuamos con quienes colaboramos. Espero que disfruten y aprendan de esta conversación tanto como yo.
Nota: el uso de lenguaje metafórico en las notas del show es intencional :)
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The Balance between Science and Culture with Dr. Corina Jimenez Gomez
Dr. Corina Jimenez Gomez likes to "tell stories." She attributes it to how she was raised and her love of literature. In other words, she attributes it "to differential reinforcement of her verbal behavior." I have to admit that as a Venezuelan I was very interested in talking with a compatriot with whom I share some nostalgia and experiences as an emigrant, but also a pride and admiration for someone who can navigate academic, experimental and applied oceans. As such, her adaptations to various languages, cultures, and knowledge have given her great sensitivity in her communication and approach to different audiences. If you can build bridges between magical realism and scientific language, who better to examine our cultures and subcultures within our profession and to observe our interactions with those we collaborate with. I hope you enjoy and learn from this conversation as much as I did.
Note: The use of metaphorical language in the show notes is intentional :)
*Interview and shownotes by Miguel Avila
**previous appearances by Dr. Jimenez-Gomez on the BOP
In Session 221, I had the opportunity to talk with Melissa Willa and Colin Davitian. These guys are a husband and wife team who founded the ABA provider, Kyo, formerly known as the Gateway Learning Group.
Our conversation focused on two hot-button topics when it comes to providing services to individuals with Autism: Treatment Dosage and Value Based Care.
With regard to the former, Melissa and Colin, along with their colleagues, conducted a retrospective analysis of treatment outcomes for learners in under their care. In doing so, they looked at the role that treatment dosage had on their overall progress, as measured by standardized assessments.
You may already be wondering what they found, so don’t worry, we get into that and lots more in this episode. We also try to place their findings in the context of existing studies that examined the relationship between treatment dosage and treatment outcomes.
As I mention during the interview, there’s lots of discussion of this topic that’s happening, particularly in the various ABA social media groups, and as is true with so many other things, it’s refreshing to elevate the discourse by looking at empirical analyses as opposed to anecdotal observations and hunches.
If you’re a clinical director or practice owner who’s also interested in this topic, Melissa and Colin suggest strategies for mining the data you probably already have access to via client electronic health records.
Towards the end of the podcast, we turned our attention to Value Based Care. Colin and Melissa define what that is, and contrast it with the more traditional fee-for-service approach for health care reimbursement. Not to spoil the punchline here, but these guys seemed pretty bullish on the potential for shifting Autism services to a Value Based Care model.
As a sidetone, for a longer discussion on the topic of VBC, check out Session 194 with Amanda Ralston. I have other guests that I’ve been meaning to bring on to talk about this as well.
Lastly, I want to thank Melissa and Colin for patiently responding to all of my “yeah, but…” questions. Even though I don’t personally provide services in an insurance funded model, I am old enough to remember the days when accessing ABA services was next to impossible due to the lack of both funding and providers, so I’m fairly reluctant to cede ground as it relates to how many hours individuals can receive authorization for, and my line of questioning most likely revealed this.
I’ve also seen cases where learners have received very intensive early intervention, and made so much progress that they entered kindergarten with little to no supports. As such, I think it’s fair to say that I had some level of bias heading into this conversation.
Long story short, these are complicated topics, and whether you agree or disagree with the findings we discuss in this episode, I think you’ll find the conversation thought provoking. Lastly, if you want to read up on this topic in more detail, I have several of the articles we referenced in this episode’s show notes. I also have Melissa and Colin’s LinkedIn profiles, so I’d encourage you to connect with them if you have questions or thoughts about these topics.
To learn more about Kyo or to connect with Colin and Melissa:
Here are some links to studies we directly or indirectly referred to in this episode:
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