When I first had Mark Dixon on the podcast, way back in Session 14, we poked some fun at the notion that principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, on the surface, didn't meet many of the 7 dimensions of Applied Behavior Analysis. Well, in Session 50, I'm joined by Dr. Jonathan Tarbox, and he goes through all the ACT processes, and provides everyday examples of how they are consistent with our science. Specifically, he breaks down each ACT process into a simple to understand Problem Behavior / Replacement Behavior paradigm. So if you've been struggling to pick up the ACT lingo, this is the episode for you! Jonathan provides tangible scenarios of how to conceptualize the ACT "hexaflex," and how BCBA's can incorporate these concepts into their practice, especially in the context of interacting with parents. In short, he makes a compelling case for BCBA's to learn more about this area of our field. We talked about a ton of resources in this episode. Here are the associated links (and let me know if I forgot any!): Jonathan's appearance on the WWDWWD podcast. The ACT in Context Podcast. Functionally Speaking Podcast. Get Out of Your Mind and in to Your Life, by Steve Hayes. The Happiness Trap, by Russ Harris. The ACBS website (please consider joining). Evaluating the Effects of ACT on the Overt Behavior of Parents of Children with Autism (Gould, Tarbox, & Coyne, 2017). Guitierrez, Luciano, Rodriguez, & Fink (2004). An ACT study on pain tolerance. The ACT for ABA Practitioners Facebook group. Check out the pinned post by Dr. Evelyn Gould, which gives instruction on where to get some of the parent training materials that Jonathan discussed. If you enjoy this episode, please consider sharing it with your colleagues and friends! Finally, this episode is brought to you by the following sponsors: Chartlytics, realizing human potential through individual behavior change analytics. Click here for a free, newly revised & expanded eBook, a free Type 2 CE, and discount coupons to upcoming training events. Behavior Development Solutions, check out their supervisory training course with Drs. Jon Baily & Mary Burch! The BARE Essentials of Digital Marketing webinar, on May 16th, 2018. Join me, Adrienne Fitzer of ABAC, and Session 15 guest and President of Flyte New Media, Rich Brooks, to discuss the ethical marketing of ABA practices (2 Ethics CE's available). Oh, and if you're on the go, but need CE's across a wide range of topics, check this out.
In Session 25, Dr. Jim Carr, CEO of The Behavior Analysis Certification Board, came on the podcast and gave us an overview of what could be considered "the state of the practice." That was roughly one year ago, and Jim was gracious enough to return, and in this episode, he provides us an update on recent happenings and initiatives at the BACB. Here are some things we got into: The recent changes with regard to ownership of the Verified Course Sequence process. The top three most frequently reported ethics violations. How task list items are identified and updated. Jim's issue with rebranding Behavior Analysis as "Behavioral Science." What growth problems still lie ahead for our practice. The BACB's "Diversity of Practice" initiative. Even though this episode was extremely long, we managed to squeeze in a listener question or two as well. Also, because I know many of you will ask, here is the Brodhead, Quigley, and Cox (2018) article on Identifying Ethical Practices in Organizations prior to employment that Jim mentioned. Finally, this episode is brought to you by the following sponsors: HRIC, which brings 30 years of recruiting experience to help BCBA's find their dream jobs. Click here to schedule your confidential inquiry. Chartlytics, realizing human potential through individual behavior change analytics. Click here for a free, newly revised & expanded eBook, a free Type 2 CE, and discount coupons to upcoming training events. Behavior Development Solutions, whose CBA Learning Module Series is the premier exam prep and curriculum supplement for BCBA and BCaBA candidates. Whether you are preparing for the RBT, BCaBA, or BCBA exam, check out BDS's free test prep guides! Thanks for checking this out!
Dan Law of the Liberty Company Insurance Brokers stops by the podcast today to discuss all things risk management. To be completely honest, I didn't anticipate that this would be an interesting topic to talk about. However, as we dug into the complexities of what goes into preventing claims, mitigating risks, and the four types of policies every practice should have, I became increasingly fascinated. Even if you have nothing to do with your company's liability policies, you may want to give this episode a listen. Dan also shares some stories about unusual insurance claims that some of his clients have faced. These stories sound like they came straight out of one of those State Farm TV commercials! If you're interested in learning more about the types of coverage the Liberty Company offers, they've set up a special page for BOP listeners. This podcast is supported by a joint-initiative between myself and the Applied Behavior Analysis Center. I'm excited to announce that on May 16th, 2018, I will be joined by Session 15 guest, Rich Brooks, and Adrienne Fitzer, owner of ABAC, to talk about ethical strategies to market your agency or organization. For more information, including an abstract for the event, visit the ABAC website. We are also proud to be sponsored by Chartlytics. Chartlytics is a single, comprehensive system for behavior reduction and academic improvement using the principles of Precision Teaching. Chartlytics has modernized the practices of PT by simplifying the data collection, visual analysis, and reporting processes that have historically formed barriers for implementation. If you are interested in learning more about PT or Chartlytics, they have set up a special page on their site for listeners to this podcast, which offers the following: A free webinar that provides a 1-Credit Type 2 Continuing Education Unit A free eBook on Precision Teaching and Standard Celeration Charting A 10% discount on upcoming Chartlytics workshops To learn more about these discounts and freebies, go to Chartlytics.com/matt.
We met Nick Green back in Session 38, and he was gracious enough to join me for a full length interview in Session 47. In this episode, we go a little deeper into his back story, talk about the cool work that his company, BehaviorFit, is doing, and take questions from listeners about all things health and fitness. For those who didn't catch Session 38, here is a little bit about Nick: Nick Green, is a board certified behavior analyst (BCBA) and focuses on improving the health of others through practice and research. His formal education includes: * B.A. Psychology (Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 2006) * Minor: Philosophy * M.S. Organizational Behavior Management (Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL, 2015). * Currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Florida. * Department of Psychology – Concentration: Behavior Analysis Nick’s previous experiences include 5 years of clinical work with individuals diagnosed with developmental disabilities, working within organizations to evaluate and improve processes, managing and overseeing the training of small teams. For more detail on his experience, education, and professional involvement: His experience and education bring a unique perspective when designing pro-health solutions.Nick’s main focus and research interest in reducing sedentary behavior (too much sitting) in the workplace. His passion is: “Improving human performance and health with behavior analysis.” When Nick is not in a book or writing, he enjoys training his dog Pete, improving productivity, photography, Olympic weightlifting, and CrossFit. Here are some links to things we discussed in this episode: Nick's recent blogpost on the sensational nature of health-related headlines on the internet. A sample of workshops that BehaviorFit offers. Nick's recent appearance on ABA Inside Track. Nick's JABA study on decreasing bouts of prolonged sitting. The BehaviorFit Instagram and Facebook feeds. I had a great time chatting with him, and if you enjoyed this episode as much as I did, I encourage you to reach out to Nick on social media, or say hi if you see a tall, fit, bearded guy at a conference! This podcast is supported by a joint-initiative between myself and the Applied Behavior Analysis Center. I'm excited to announce that on May 16th, 2018, I will be joined by Session 15 guest, Rich Brooks, and Adrienne Fitzer, owner of ABAC, to talk about ethical strategies to market your agency or organization. For more information, including an abstract for the event, visit the ABAC website. We are also proud to be sponsored by Chartlytics. Chartlytics is a single, comprehensive system for behavior reduction and academic improvement using the principles of Precision Teaching. Chartlytics has modernized the practices of PT by simplifying the data collection, visual analysis, and reporting processes that have historically formed barriers for implementation. If you are interested in learning more about PT or Chartlytics, they have set up a special page on their site for listeners to this podcast, which offers the following: A free webinar that provides a 1-Credit Type 2 Continuing Education Unit A free eBook on Precision Teaching and Standard Celeration Charting A 10% discount on upcoming Chartlytics workshops To learn more about these discounts and freebies, go to Chartlytics.com/matt.
Topics Covered: OBM... check; Supervision...check; Medical necessity... check; Mens' fashion... What?!?! OK, let me explain. Tim Courtney of Little Star ABA joins me to cover what can only be considered a wide range of topics in Session 46 of The Behavioral Observations Podcast. Tim talks about how he learned about ABA by going to the gym, how he got started in ABA with the help of some key mentors, how he joined up with Little Star and became their Chief Operating Officer, and how they are implementing high quality ABA programs across a large number of clinicians and learners. Tim is a nationally recognized expert in the area of medical necessity, and regularly gives workshops on this topic across the United States. In this episode, he shares some tips on this in our discussion as well as answers questions from listeners. Little Star has also pioneered what they call an apprentice model of supervision, which from my point of view, seems like a win-win opportunity for both the aspiring behavior analyst and the organization. It has been so effective that Little Star does not actively recruit for BCBA's. As such, I couldn't resist asking some questions about this process, which was also written about in a recent issue of Behavior Analysis in Practice. Here are some links to tools and articles that Tim shared with us: BAP article Treatment Intensity Exercise PMA Experience Checklist The Mental Health Parity Act I hope you enjoyed this conversation as much as I did. There's definitely a round 2 in the works, so please feel free to let me know if you have additional questions for Tim! Session 46 of The Behavioral Observations Podcast is sponsored by Chartlytics.com and Operantcoffee.com. Chartlytics has set up a special page on their site for listeners to this podcast. Specifically, they are offering the following: A free webinar that provides a 1-Credit Type 2 Continuing Education Unit A free eBook on Precision Teaching and Standard Celeration Charting A 10% discount on upcoming Chartlytics workshops To learn more about these discounts and freebies, go to Chartlytics.com/matt. If you want some awesome coffee that is sustainably produced that happens to be 10% off, go to operantcoffee.com/shop and use the discount code BEHAVIORCOFFEE.
Dr. Wayne Fisher has spent decades researching the assessment and treatment of severe behavior problems. In Session 45 of The Behavioral Observations Podcast, he joins me to discuss current Functional Analysis and Function-Based Treatment strategies, his concerns for the field as it experiences rapid expansion, and advice for new practitioners. Here is his bio-sketch from the Munroe-Meyer Institute's website: Wayne Fisher is the H.B. Munroe professor of behavioral research in the Munroe-Meyer Institute and the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He is also the director of the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders at the Munroe-Meyer Institute, a board certified behavior analyst at the doctoral level (BCBA-D), and a licensed psychologist. He was previously a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and served as executive director of the Neurobehavioral Programs at the Kennedy Krieger Institute and the Marcus Behavior Center at the Marcus Institute, where he built clinical-research programs in autism and developmental disabilities with national reputations for excellence. Fisher’s methodologically sophisticated research has focused on several intersecting lines, including preference, choice, and the assessment and treatment of autism and severe behavior disorders, that have been notable for the creative use of concurrent schedules of reinforcement, which have become more commonplace in clinical research primarily as a result of his influence. He has published over 175 peer-reviewed research studies in over 30 different behavioral and/or medical journals, including: the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis; Psychological Reports; American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities; Journal of Pediatrics; the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics; Pediatrics; and The Lancet. Fisher is a past editor of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, a past president of the Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, a fellow in the Association for Behavior Analysis, and recipient of the Bush Leadership Award, the APA (Division 25) Award for Outstanding Contributions to Applied Behavioral Research, the UNMC Distinguished Scientist Award, and the University of Nebraska system-wide Award for Outstanding Research and Creativity Activity. Session 45 of The Behavioral Observations Podcast is sponsored by Chartlytics.com and Operantcoffee.com. Chartlytics has set up a special page on their site for listeners to this podcast. Specifically, they are offering the following: A free webinar that provides a 1-Credit Type 2 Continuing Education Unit A free eBook on Precision Teaching and Standard Celeration Charting A 10% discount on upcoming Chartlytics workshops To learn more about these discounts and freebies, go to Chartlytics.com/matt. If you want some awesome coffee that is sustainably produced that happens to be 10% off, go to operantcoffee.com/shop and use the discount code BEHAVIORCOFFEE.
Kim Berens joins me in Session 44 of The Behavioral Observations Podcast in what I originally thought was going to be a discussion about the company she co-founded, Fit Learning. While we spoke about Fit Learning a-plenty, Kim also provided tons of historical anecdotes on the development of our field, the development of Precision Teaching (where she recounted many personal conversations with Ogden Lindsley), and her take on where our field's challenges lie. If you haven't heard about Fit Learning, you'll want to check out their website. Their unique instructional model typically results in 1 year of academic growth for every 40 hours of instruction. If you're like me, you had to read that sentence two or three times to let it sink truly sink in. Kim shares the story of how Fit Learning was developed from its humble beginnings at the University of Nevada, Reno to licensing Fit Learning affiliates all around the globe. Here is a portion of her bio-sketch: Kimberly Nix Berens, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LBA is a Founding Director of Fit Learning, a Board Certified Behavior Analyst at the doctoral level, and a Licensed Behavior Analyst in the state of New York. Her work centers on using behavior analysis to transform the learning abilities of a wide-range of children, including those who are struggling, average, gifted, learning disabled, or on the autism spectrum. She received her doctoral degree in psychology with a specialization in behavior analysis at the University of Nevada – Reno (UNR) in 2005 under the supervision of Dr. Ogden Lindsley, Dr. Patrick Ghezzi and Dr. Thomas Boyce. Along with the other co-founders, Dr. Berens assisted in the creation of Fit Learning (originally Center for Advanced Learning) as a graduate student at UNR and, since that time, she has overseen the expansion of the organization to include locations in Reno, Nevada; Medford, Oregon; Locust Valley, New York; Manhattan; Phoenix, Arizona; and Perth, Australia. She relocated to the New York area in 2010 to focus on opening learning laboratories throughout the east coast. Through these learning labs, Dr. Berens and her team have developed a powerful system of instruction that combines precision teaching, direct instruction, curriculum-based measurement, and relational frame theory. This system consistently produces over one year’s growth in 40 hours of instruction. Following an appointment by Governor Jim Gibbons, she served on the State of Nevada Board of Psychological Examiners from 2009 – 2010 where she assisted in the development of state licensing regulations for behavior analysts. Dr. Berens was the first behavior analyst in the country to hold such a post. She has provided clinical and research supervision to undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students and she continues to serve as an affiliate faculty member in the Behavior Analysis Program at the University of Nevada – Reno. This podcast is sponsored by Chartlytics.com, Operantcoffee.com, and The Georgia Autism Providers Conference. To get a Precision Teaching starter package (i.e., some really cool free stuff), go to Chartlytics.com/matt. If you want some awesome coffee that is sustainably produced that happens to be 10% off, go to operantcoffee.com/shop and use the discount code BEHAVIORCOFFEE. If you want to attend the Georgia Autism Providers Conference, register before January 31st so you can take advantage of their early-bird discount. Amongst other offerings, this conference will feature the PEAK Level 1 certification workshop. Attendees who sign up for the PEAK workshop before January 31st will enrolled in a drawing for all four PEAK Modules, as well as the PEAK Comprehensive Record books (a $390 value).
Happy New Year!!! I couldn't imagine a better way to kick off 2018. Megan Miller returns to The Behavioral Observations Podcast to inform us of a movement-of-sorts that she is kicking off in this new year. Specifically, Megan is rolling out a multi-media campaign of professional development for 12 consecutive months. She is calling this the "Do Better Movement." And before you get the wrong idea, it's not intended to be preachy or judgmental per se. Instead, it is meant to be a call for practitioners at all stages to strive for continues improvement. This is an idea I can surely get behind. In this episode, Megan discusses the specific topics for each month of 2018, as well as the content that she will release to support these practice areas. Each month will include a webinar, YouTube video, blog post, and more for each focus topic. If you want to get involved, here are some links that you'll want to know about: The Navigation Behavioral Consulting Facebook Page (you'll want to like and follow it) The Navigation Behavioral Consulting Instagram Page The "Do-Better" Slack Group Special thanks to Chartlytics.com, Operantcoffee.com, and The Georgia Autism Providers Conference for sponsoring today's show. To get a Precision Teaching starter package (i.e., some really cool free stuff), go to Chartlytics.com/matt. If you want some awesome coffee that is sustainably produced that happens to be 10% off, go to operantcoffee.com/shop and use the discount code BEHAVIORCOFFEE. If you want to attend the Georgia Autism Providers Conference, register before January 31st so you can take advantage of their early-bird discount. Amongst other offerings, this conference will feature the PEAK Level 1 certification workshop. Attendees who sign up for the PEAK workshop before January 31st will enrolled in a drawing for all four PEAK Modules, as well as the PEAK Comprehensive Record books (a $390 value).
Given both the guest and the topic, I don't know if I can add much to the title of this podcast episode. Pat Friman is arguable the best speaker in our field. I have seen him present at least a 1/2 dozen times throughout my career, and it is remarkable how consistent the quality of his talks are. So in this episode, you'll learn that this is no accident. Pat works hard at his craft, and shares methods that you can start working on right away to improve your public speaking skills. Much of what we talk about comes from an article he published in The Behavior Analyst a few years ago. You can find that here. Throughout this interview, Pat also responds to several listener-submitted questions. In short, there are numerous lessons in this podcast episode, and I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. Special thanks to Chartlytics.com and Operantcoffee.com for sponsoring today's show. To get a Precision Teaching starter package (i.e., some really cool free stuff), go to Chartlytics.com/matt. If you want some awesome coffee that is sustainably produced that happens to be 10% off, go to operantcoffee.com/shop and use the discount code BEHAVIORCOFFEE.
So one of my podcasting dreams has now come true! I finally got the chance to interview Russ Harris! If you're not familiar with Russ, he is the best-selling author of The Happiness Trap, and has provided ACT training to over 25,000 health professionals across the globe. In today's episode we discuss the basics of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Russ' son's Autism diagnosis and treatment, how to manage stress and burnout, and of course, listener questions. Unfortunately we didn't have time to get to all listener questions, so Russ has agreed to come back for a Round 2. So feel free to leave questions in the comments section below. During the interview, we mentioned several websites, so here are the links: thehappinesstrap.com Imlearningact.com actmindfully.com.au contextualscience.org mataraservices.com The last site there is Simcha Charna's website. He was kind enough to orchestrate an introduction, to which I am grateful. Lastly, here is a link for a PDF of the Choice Point diagram Russ talked about at the beginning of the interview: Russ Harris' Choice Point Special thanks to Chartlytics.com and Operantcoffee.com for sponsoring today's show. To get a Precision Teaching starter package (i.e., some really cool free stuff), go to Chartlytics.com/matt. If you want some awesome coffee that is sustainably produced that happens to be 10% off, go to operantcoffee.com/shop and use the discount code BEHAVIORCOFFEE.
Mark Dixon and Dana Paliliunas join me for Session 40 to discuss the new curriculum they just published, which is called Accept, Identify, and Move. In short, it's a curriculum guide to help kiddos by combining Mindfulness, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Applied Behavior Analysis. In this episode, we touch on a wide range of topics, including classroom interventions, school wide supports, the role of Mark's previous works (e.g., PEAK and ACT for Children with Autism and Emotional Challenges), and even disseminating and teaching complex topics to school personnel. So even if you don't work in school settings, or if you are an ACT-skeptic, I think there are plenty of lessons that are contained in this episode. I've had a chance to review excerpts of the book and in short, it looks fantastic. Personally, I can see many applications of this work in my practice as a school-based consultant. It's available right now at the Shawnee Scientific Press website. We also get into tons of listener questions on Mark's PEAK curriculum. In fact, we could probably do an entire Q & A show on PEAK given its popularity. In that segment of the show, we discuss the PEAK ABA YouTube channel and the PEAK ABA Solutions training arm. You can find links to these resources here and here. This episode is supported by Chartlytics. Chartlytics is a single, comprehensive system for behavior reduction and academic improvement through Precision Teaching. It is based on 50+ years of peer-reviewed research and experience in applied academic and behavioral settings. Chartlytics has modernized the science of Precision Teaching by simplifying the data collection, visual analysis and reporting processes. It is fully automated and easy to use. It produces dramatic, rapid and reliable results, with elegant and simple visual displays. Chartlytics offers an intensive 2-day workshop on Precision Teaching and the Standard Celeration Chart at locations throughout the United States. Participants learn how to supercharge their ABA programs using this powerful technology, which can often produce 10 times the change in targeted pinpoint behaviors - academic, skill, or behavior reduction. For more information, please visit Chartlytics.com/events. Finally visit chartlytics.com/matt for an exclusive offer that provides the following: A brief video showing the effects of using Precision Teaching along with the Chartlytics platform in a clinic that serves children with Autism. A free 1-credit Type 2 BACB Continuing Education webinar, which features Drs. Rick Kubina and Amanda Kelly. A free eBook on precision teaching. Thanks for checking out this show! If you get value from the podcast, please consider visiting iTunes to provide a rating and review. Also, if you have a chance to share this podcast (in person, or online) with like minded behavioral folks, that would be awesome too!
Precision Teaching (PT), and the Standard Celeration Charting that goes along with it, is an area of Behavior Analysis that I've never really understood. In fairness, I never really took the time to learn it either. That said, since the inception of this podcast, I have had numerous emails from listeners asking me to interview Rick Kubina on this very topic. For various reasons that I describe in our interview, I was scared reluctant to do so, but I'm so glad that Rick and I finally carved out time to record this show. Rick, with Captain James Tiberius Kirk In this episode, Rick covers the basics of PT, why the Standard Celeration Chart is a superior measurement tool, and answers numerous listener questions. Throughout our conversation, we mentioned a few articles and other resources, which can be found here: Rick's YouTube channel, which has some nice primers on the SCC The Chartlytics website and YouTube channel The Precision Teaching Book, by Kubina & Yurich (2012) The Standard Celeration Society's website and Facebook page A cool study (Datchuk & Kubina, 2017) on using these strategies for improving sentence writing Kubina et al. (2015). A Critical Review of Line Graphs in Behavior Analytic Journals So when you listen to this episode, you'll hear me profess my ignorance on all things PT. However, I will be taking action to remediate this by attending Rick's 2-day PT workshop that's coming up in Las Vegas. Rick, and the company he co-founded, Chartlytics, also have workshops that are coming up in Miami and Pittsburg, with more to be scheduled. If you are interested in diving into PT like I am, but can't get away to attend one of Rick's workshops, the folks at Chartlytics have put together a comprehensive online learning package that includes 30 hours of instruction, the Kubina & Yurich textbook, and a very special bonus that you'll have to see to appreciate. To sweeten the deal, they are offering a huge discount for listeners of The Behavioral Observations Podcast. You can check out the deal by clicking the here.
Hi Folks, I am on day 2 of not having any power (huge windstorm hit New Hampshire on Sunday night/Monday morning), so please excuse the lack of show notes for this episode. I'll update as soon as I can. So here's the Twitter version: I speak with five out of the seven or eight speakers at the 2017 NextGen Revolution Summit Conference, which is being held in Miami, FL on 11/11/17. It is also available to live stream on the interwebs! If you're interested in checking it out, and you want to save a few bucks, use the promo code MATT at checkout. It's well worth checking out, so if you want more details, head over to https://nextgenrevolutionsummit.com/ for more info!
Do you want to hear a cool story about using Behavior Analysis to improve the environment? Glad you asked! Dr. Amanda Kelly returns to the podcast to discuss her #nostrawforme campaign. What started out as essentially a self-management intervention is evolving into movement to reduce the usage of disposable or single-use items. Personally, I rarely use straws, but this conversation prompted me to think about other ways in which I consume single-use items, such as paper towels, aluminum cans, and so forth. I hope you find this conversation just as thought provoking. And feel free to share these thoughts in the comments! Here are some links to things Amanda talked about: The Lonely Whale Foundation ABAI's Behavior Analysis for Sustainable Societies SIG A paper from Dr. Scott Geller's early seat belt work The Behavior Analyst's special edition on sustainability Research Gate If you enjoy this episode, please take a minute to head over to iTunes and leave a rating and review. In-person referrals to like minded behavior-folks are always appreciated as well! This podcast is sponsored by Britton Behavioral Consulting. Dr. Lisa Britton, BCBA-D specializes in providing independent fieldwork supervision in a remote context. If you listen to Session 29, you'll learn that she has a wealth of experience in both the practice of Behavior Analysis, as well some great processes in place for mentoring soon-to-be BCBA's. I have corresponded with previous mentees of hers, and to a person, they sang her praises as a supervisor. Also, if you need BACB Type 2 continuing education, why not earn them while you're on the go? How does this work? Again, glad you asked. Click here to find out more.
How do you get parents to become effective agents of change as it relates to their children's problem behavior? If you're like me, you've struggled to explain the complexities of the functional nature of problem behavior to lay people. Clearly, avoiding our technical language helps with this, but working with parents in particular, it can be difficult to teach how to reinforce desired responses, what behaviors to attend to, what disruptive events to ignore, and so on. As Pat Friman and I discussed in Session 10, sometimes we as Behavior Analysts have trouble applying our training to our own parenting as well. Thankfully, Brandon Franklin stops by the podcast to talk about the parent training program he and his colleagues at Clinical Behavior Analysis are using. They've developed a program called RAPID training (not to be confused with Rapid Prompting ;-) ) that they've found great success with (click here for their handout on this program). This program was adapted from a book by Drs. Rex Forehand and Nicholas Long called Parenting the Strong-Willed Child: The clinically proven five week program for parents of two to six year olds. I had the chance to read much of it before the interview, and I think it's a great book that most parents will get a lot out of. In the interview, we even joked about handing the book out to random people in the street, in grocery stores, certain friends who struggle with parenting, and so forth. Not to turn this post into a review per se, but the book is well worth checking out. In this episode, you will learn the specific steps to the RAPID program, specifically the components of Rewarding, Attending, Providing Breaks, Ignoring, and Direction Giving. You will also learn about the various populations and settings in which the folks at CBA have used this intervention. Because parent training is such a hot topic in our field right now, I received tons of listener questions, so Brandon and I spend some time going through those as well. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Brandon and his colleagues at CBA are doing some really great things in our field. They're expanding quite a bit right now, so if you're wondering what it would be like to work CBA, you can reach out to them here (for transparency sake, there is no sponsorship arrangement here). Speaking of sponsors though, this podcast is sponsored by Britton Behavioral Consulting. Dr. Lisa Britton, BCBA-D specializes in providing independent fieldwork supervision in a remote context. If you listen to Session 29, you'll learn that she has a wealth of experience in both the practice of Behavior Analysis, as well some great processes in place for mentoring soon-to-be BCBA's. I have corresponded with previous mentees of hers, and to a person, they sang her praises as a supervisor. Also, if you need BACB Type 2 continuing education, why not earn them while you're on the go? How does this work? Glad you asked. Click here to find out more.
In session 35, I get a chance to chat with some fellow residents of the Granite State, the husband and wife duo Kim and Tim Heald. In this episode, we discuss the nitty gritty associated with starting an ABA Clinic. Having a clinic is an alluring idea. The obvious benefits include the promise of increased efficiency and quality control. That said, through this discussion, you'll learn there's a lot more to operating a clinic than finding the ideal location. The Healds open up about the challenges of running a clinic, such as putting together an effective team, establishing a common organizational culture, coaching staff performance, and even working together as a married couple. During this interview, Tim and Kim mentioned a few resources, and as promised, here are the links to them: The Lean Startup by Eric Reis William Abernathy's Pay for Performance compensation systems Click here to learn more about Constellations Behavioral Services. In other podcast-related news, on September 27th, at 8 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Megan will be joining me and the members of The Behavioral Observations Membership group for a Zoom meeting. In this meeting, members will have the opportunity to ask Megan about instructional control, alternatives to escape, the PEAK ABA curriculum, and anything else (ABA related, of course!). We will also have none other than Greg Hanley joining us sometime in November (date TBA). If you're interested in learning more, then click here. This podcast is sponsored by Britton Behavioral Consulting. Dr. Lisa Britton, BCBA-D specializes in providing independent fieldwork supervision in a remote context. If you listen to Session 29, you'll learn that she has a wealth of experience in both the practice of Behavior Analysis, as well some great processes in place for mentoring soon-to-be BCBA's. I have corresponded with previous mentees of hers, and to a person, they sang her praises as a supervisor.
OK folks, it's back to school time in New Hampshire and elsewhere, so I thought it would be timely to bring Dr. Megan Miller of Navigation Behavioral Consulting back on the show to talk about effective strategies for obtaining instructional control, as well as dealing with disruptive behavior without using extinction. These are topics that Megan presents on frequently, and many of these themes can be found in the book that she co-wrote with Robert Schramm, The Seven Steps to Earning Instructional Control. Megan also has a more specific training on this (CE's available!) for on her agency's website for those looking for additional information on this topic. Finally, on September 27th, at 8 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Megan will be joining me and the members of The Behavioral Observations Membership group for a Zoom meeting. In this meeting, members will have the opportunity to ask Megan about instructional control, alternatives to escape, the PEAK ABA curriculum, and anything else (ABA related, of course!). We will also have none other than Greg Hanley joining us sometime in November (date TBA). If you're interested in learning more, then click here. Megan mentioned a few studies and other resources in our conversation, so here are the links: Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior and Demand Fading in the Treatment of Escape-Maintained Destructive Behavior (Piazza, Moes, & Fisher, 1996). Assessment of the Relative Effects of Attention and Escape on Noncompliance (Rodriguez, Thompson, & Bayhnam, 2010). The Use of Positive and Negative Reinforcement in the Treatment of Escape-Maintained Destructive Behavior (Piazza et al, 1997). Robert Schramm's YouTube channel. This podcast is sponsored by Britton Behavioral Consulting. Dr. Lisa Britton, BCBA-D specializes in providing independent fieldwork supervision in a remote context. If you listen to Session 29, you'll learn that she has a wealth of experience in both the practice of Behavior Analysis, as well some great processes in place for mentoring soon-to-be BCBA's. I have corresponded with previous mentees of hers, and to a person, they sang her praises as a supervisor.
The ABA Study Group is a Facebook group that is dedicated to helping people learn about behavior analysis, prepare for the BACB exam, and for those already certified, to maintain fluency with the terminology of our field. As of this writing, they have over 15,000 members so they certainly have found an audience for their work. One of the cool things that the ABA Study Group does is host frequent Zoom meetings. For those who don't know, Zoom is an online video meeting platform which allows members of the group to meet face-to-face, and the group hosts these meetings to cover specific topics for those who are learning about Behavior Analysis. Getting back to this episode, about a month ago, Roger Matar and Celia Heyman reached out to me and invited me to speak with the group on one of their Zoom calls. Specifically, they turned the tables on me, so to speak, and interviewed me for a change. What I learned from this is that I have a even deeper respect for what my guests go through! In other words, asking the questions is WAY easier than answering them!!! In all honesty, there were a few answers that I provided that I would have liked a second try on. I guess if there is a lesson in this for others, it would be to practice interviewing with peers if you're in a stage of your career in which you're applying for jobs, internships, and so on. Self deprecation aside, I had a great time, and I truly appreciated everyone who attended the Zoom call. Again, I can't overstate the good work that the study group is doing, so if you're not familiar with them, I highly suggest checking them out. Finally, after re-listening to the interview, I realized that I neglected to credit my good friend, John Corley, who is a constant source of technical assistance. When I first thought about starting a podcast, John was one of my biggest cheerleaders, and he provided (and continues to provide) tons of assistance. Despite his help, it is important to note that all technical errors are mine. John and me, August 2017 This podcast is sponsored by Britton Behavioral Consulting. Dr. Lisa Britton, BCBA-D specializes in providing independent fieldwork supervision in a remote context. If you listen to Session 29, you'll learn that she has a wealth of experience in both the practice of Behavior Analysis, as well some great processes in place for mentoring soon-to-be BCBA's. I have corresponded with previous mentees of hers, and to a person, they sang her praises as a supervisor.
Today's show is a little different than they typical episode. On September 30th, 2017, the New Hampshire Association for Behavior Analysis will be hosting its 3rd annual conference (tickets are available here). In order to promote this event, and more generally, highlight the great work that NH ABA does, I put together a sequence of five mini-interviews with all of the conference speakers. This year's line-up is great. We will feature a Keynote address from Dr. Greg Hanley, and a closing Distinguished Speaker presentation from Dr. Mark Sundberg. Between these talks, we'll hear from Dr. Derek Reed, Caitlin Kirkwood, and Michael Miklos. In this episode, you'll hear about what they will talk about, but you can also click here to access the conference brochure. The conference is a fantastic value. The early-bird price of $99 gets you 6.5 CEU's, a buffet lunch (yes, there is a free lunch), and opportunities to meet and network with fellow behavior analysts. The early bird price is available through August 31st, but if I had to guess, the event is going to sell out prior to that. As such, if you're considering attending, I recommend picking up your tickets right away. Click here to access the online portal to make that happen. In this episode, I've asked each speaker to recommend readings, websites, and other resources to check out. Here are those references in the approximate order in which they are mentioned in the episode. From Greg's interview: www.practicalfunctionalassessment.com Slayton, Hanley, & Raftery 2017 From Derek's: Some random podcast episode Derek's tutorial video on the SQAB YouTube channel The Behavior Analysis in Practice tutorial article From Mike's: www.pattan.net From Caitlin's: Addison, et al., 2012 Peterson, et al., 2016 The SOS approach to feeding From Mark's: The Verbal Behavior Approach, by Session 12 guest, Dr. Mary Lynch Barbera Jumpstarting Communication Skills in Children with Autism, by Dr. Mary Jane Weiss The Analysis of Verbal Behavior Special Issue on the Intraverbal Thirty Points About Motivation from Skinner's Book Verbal Behavior
Session 31 features a guest who has been requested by listeners numerous times since the start of this podcast, and that is none other than Dr. Pat McGreevy. As I explain in the episode, Pat and I have been talking on and off about doing a show for over a year now, and I'm really glad we finally had an opportunity to record this discussion. What exactly did we talk about? Well, Pat describes how he got into the field, and more interestingly, what the field was like in the early 1970's. He discusses his graduate training with Dr. Ogden Lindsley, the use of the Standard Celeration Chart, and when to shift gears from teaching verbal operants to functional skills. Pat also shares his views methodological and practice-level issues in our field. Finally, a conversation with Pat would be incomplete without discussing the curriculum he developed, Essential for Living. He discusses why he wrote the curriculum in the first place, and helped me understand how to get started with it. Here is his bio from the website: Dr. McGreevy received B.S. and M.A. degrees in Psychology and Special Education, respectively, from the University of Iowa. He was a special education teacher for eight years, working with children and young adults with moderate-to-severe developmental disabilities. He received the Ph.D. degree in Education from Kansas University under the guidance of Ogden R. Lindsley. Dr. McGreevy served on the Special Education faculties of the University of Missouri Kansas City, and Louisiana State University. He also served on the faculty of the Behavior Analysis Program at the Florida Institute of Technology. He is the author of Teaching and Learning in Plain English, an introduction to Precision Teaching, and the founder of the Journal of Precision Teaching and Standard Celeration Charting. He is also the author of ten journal articles and a book chapter on teaching verbal behavior. He is the first author of Essential for Living, a new functional skills curriculum, assessment, and professional practitioner’s handbook for children and adults with moderate-to-severe disabilities. For the past 30 years, Dr. McGreevy has provided consultations for children and adults with developmental disabilities in school districts, residential programs, and hospitals, specializing in the treatment of aggressive and self-injurious behavior in individuals with limited communication or language skills. Under the guidance of Dr. Jack Michael, Dr. McGreevy has also conducted workshops on teaching communication skills and language in the context of severe problem behavior, which are based on B. F. Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior. This podcast is sponsored by Britton Behavioral Consulting. Dr. Lisa Britton provides affordable, high quality, independent fieldwork supervision for aspiring BCBA’s. Group and independent supervision sessions are available. For more information, click here to reach out to Lisa.
It’s not everyday that one gets a chance to chat with someone with decades of experience in Behavior Analysis. It is equally rare to do so with someone who helped pioneer the field of Organizational Behavior Management. That’s why I’m so excited to share this conversation with none other than Dr. Aubrey Daniels.
Before I started this podcast, I drew up a list of potential guests. Aubrey was one of those people at the top of the list, though I doubted that he would have time for such a fledgling outlet like The Behavioral Observations Podcast. However my aspirations recently turned into reality a few weeks ago when Aubrey and I sat down to record this conversation.
In this interview we cover the following:
We also spend quite a bit of time discussing listener-submitted questions. For more information about Aubrey, check out the homepage of Aubrey Daniels International here.
If you’re not familiar with Aubrey, here is a short bio: Aubrey Daniels, a thought leader and internationally recognized expert on management, leadership, safety and workplace issues, is considered an authority on human behavior in the workplace. As founder and chairman of the board of directors of his consulting firm, Aubrey Daniels International, he and his staff help organizations employ the timeless principles of behavioral science to re-energize the workplace, optimize performance and achieve lasting results. Aubrey actively blogs about performance systems, workplace safety and management issues and is frequently interviewed for major media outlets. In addition to being a highly sought after keynote speaker at major association, conference and educational events, Aubrey is the author of six best-selling books widely recognized as international management classics: Bringing out the Best in People: How to Apply the Astonishing Power of Positive Reinforcement; Performance Management: Changing Behavior That Drives Organizational Effectiveness, Other People’s Habits, Measure of a Leader, Oops! 13 Management Practices that Waste Time and Money (and what to do instead), and Safe by Accident?His books have been translated into Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Spanish and French and have been licensed in China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Romania and Saudi Arabia.
This podcast is sponsored by Britton Behavioral Consulting. Dr. Lisa Britton provides affordable, high quality, independent fieldwork supervision for aspiring BCBA’s. Group and independent supervision sessions are available. For more information, click here to reach out to Lisa.
If you caught the last few episodes of the podcast, you’ve heard me talk about our new sponsor, Britton Behavioral Consulting. This is where Dr. Lisa Britton, BCBA-D provides high quality Independent Fieldwork Supervision for individuals seeking board certification. Lisa has been a Behavior Analyst for almost two decades, and given the important role that supervision has in our field, I thought it would be a good idea to have her on to discuss best practices in this area. In this episode, we talk about the following: How Lisa got into the field of ABA What questions you need to ask yourself if you’re considering offering supervision as a service What a supervisee should look for in a supervisor How to embed Behavior Skills Training into the supervision process Specific tools she uses to conduct remote supervision sessions If you are looking for supervision, or if you simply have questions about the process, head over to www.brittonbehavioralconsulting.com and reach out to Lisa. During our conversation, we talked a lot about pieces of software, specific trainings, and other nitty-gritty details. I have attempted to provide links to most of the topics we covered below. Links to remote supervision software: https://www.gotomeeting.com/ https://www.gotomeeting.com/training The bSci21.org training that Lisa mentioned (about having difficult conversations) http://www.bsci21.org/courses/conversations-that-drive-performance-empowering-employees-with-behavior-science-1-bacb-ceu/ Intro to special edition of Behavior Analysis in Practice on supervision https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5118263/ Overview of Behavioral Skills Training, again, in Behavior Analysis in Practice https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3592486/
In Session 28 of The Behavioral Observations Podcast, Molly Ola Pinney joins me to talk about The Global Autism Project, an organization she started in 2003. In brief, The Global Autism Project trains teachers to work with children with Autism globally. The organization began this initiative in Africa, but has now branched out to helping people in this way to Central America, India, and beyond. In this episode, we talk about how the organization was founded, what it’s like to support teams remotely, and how exactly they carry out this mission today. Molly closes the interview by encouraging practitioners (or basically anyone listening to the show) to consider saying, “yes,” to new opportunities, even when they may be a little apprehensive about doing so. This episode is sponsored by Britton Behavioral Consulting. Dr. Lisa Britton, BCBA-D specializes in providing high quality independent fieldwork supervision to aspiring BCBA’s. For more information on her services, please check out her website here. Finally, if you are looking for BACB Type 2 Continuing Education, look no further (well, there are only 5.5 units available, so technically, you will have to look further, but you get the ideal…). Click here to find out about how you can earn CE’s for listening to selected podcast episodes.
In Session 27 of The Behavioral Observations Podcast, I chat with Dr. Adel Najdowski, BCBA-D about teaching Executive Functioning skills to individuals with Autism and Attention difficulties. Adel is the author of a new book on this subject, Flexible and Focused, and we discuss the idea of Behavior Analysts delving into the realm of more mainstream psychological and educational constructs, and more pragmatically, how to conceptualize things like EF into more manageable and teachable responses. The book is available on Amazon, and it will also be at the ABAI 2017 Bookstore, which is where I’ll probably pick my copy up. This episode is sponsored by Britton Behavioral Consulting. Dr. Lisa Britton specializes in providing high quality independent fieldwork supervision to aspiring BCBA’s. For more information on her services, please check out her website here.
I sometimes joke around with folks that we Behavior Analysts are perhaps the only people who think nothing of driving one hour to do two hours of work. While that’s a little bit of an exaggeration, I find that it’s not entirely off the mark either. Obviously there are only so many hours in the day, and from both a clinical and financial perspective, these practices lead to a lot of waste. What if there was a way to leverage existing technologies to reduce travel-related barriers to providing clinical services? Well, it turns out that the answer to this question already exists, and other helping professions have been using technology to both expand services and operate more efficiently. In episode 26 of The Behavioral Observations Podcast, I chat with Dr. Wendy Machalicek, BCBA-D, who is an Associate Professor of Special Education at The University of Oregon, about using technology to provide behavior analytic services to families in rural areas. This practice goes by a few different names, but is often referred to as Telemedicine or Telehealth. Wendy discusses some of her research in this area as well as walks us through how to conceptualize the use of technology in our own work. So does that mean you can fire up Skype and start consulting with clients? Not so fast… as I learned from this conversation there are tons of technical and ethical details that have the potential to be inadvertently overlooked, including things like encryption of data, consent/assent in terms of working with adults, privacy/confidentiality of anyone who can view/hear the client-analyst exchanges, etc... Wendy also the behavior-analytic, “scene,” in Oregon and provided some helpful advice for newbies to the field (though I found her thoughts helpful for older practitioners like myself too!). We covered a lot in this episode, so here are some links of the things that were mentioned: • VSee HIPAA compliant video conferencing software • Bluetooth headsets • External web cameras • Swivl remote camera gear • The American Telemedicine Association • The APA Guidelines for practice re: Telehealth Speaking of making life more convenient, if you’re on the road a lot but need Continuing Education, check out the CE page. That’s right, you can now earn BACB Type 2 CE’s by listening to selected podcasts, and answering a few questions. Right now CE credits are available for topics such as Functional Assessment and Function-Based Interventions, The Ethics of Self-Care, and Behavioral Economics. Again, visit the CE page for more details.