Search Results

We’re all on a journey. We may be at different points in that journey, but we’re constantly learning from the people around us. In this Continuing Education offering, Corey Robertson gives personal examples of what supervision, mentorship, and leadership mean.

Primary care physicians, psychiatrists, specialists . . . OH MY! Working within the field of clinical behavior analysis includes working with clients that could be seeing multiple professionals for a variety of reasons. It is not always included in training, but it is important that behavior analysts have an understanding of the types of treatments their clients could be given from other health care professionals.

Public shaming may be seen as justifiable, whether it be through bully shaming, child shaming, or even dog shaming. Social media has risen to be the most prevalent medium in which to shame others. Judges, schools, parents, and others use it as a consequence to punish behavior; however, there may be additional side effects from using shame.

OBM seems to be such a mystery to many of us. In this Continuing Education course, Kelly Therrien demystifies OBM and recounts her experiences in the field. You’ll learn what OBM is, how it fits into behavior analysis, and you’ll even get practice using a couple of helpful tools within the field.

Why do people make bad choices? The answer can be found within the schedules of reinforcement that are occurring for that person. Bud Mace provides a refreshing review of all the simple and combined schedules of reinforcement. He further explains different features of combined schedules and how those can be understood through analyzing behavioral results.

Approximately 50 million people worldwide are diagnosed with Dementia. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this number is expected to grow by 10 million new cases every year, which gives Dementia the status of public health and social priority” (WHO, 2016). Given the prevalence of this diagnosis, behavioral research and practice has gained influence over the last decade, focusing on Antecedent manipulation, communication training, satiation, and deprivation.

Verbal behavior is a topic that is most associated with a clinical setting. One of the main targets for clinicians, particularly for early intervention, is teaching mands (likely related to snacks or iPads), tacts, and intraverbals. However, the concepts of verbal behavior are present in everyday interactions and impact how we communicate with others.

Skinner’s Verbal Behavior may be a difficult read for some. The content is complex but unpacks all aspects of verbal behavior. One can gain a lot of insight from his book if completely understanding it. In part 1 of this analysis, Mark Sundberg explains how language is typically measured and how Skinner suggests language should be measured, and in what units to measure it.

How many times have you felt the need for better assessing staff or being fairly assessed? Have your expectations always been clearly stated at first? Do leaders have all the right tools to do so? Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) might have some answers. Dr. Byron Wine describes the basis of OBM, its impact on our daily lives, and how to better understand and measure it.

Behavior analysis? OBM? These are questions you or incoming students of OBM may have. In this course, Dr. Wine gives an overview of behavior analysis, what it is, some of the terminology used, how behavior is measured, and how to increase and decrease certain behaviors. These concepts can be applied to any environment, including organizations, to improve performance. 

While ABA is often talked about with early intervention, it is crucial to discuss and know how to work with adult individuals with developmental disabilities. Dr. Gerhardt describes the selection of target behaviors that may be most valuable to adult clients and how to effectively implement these adaptive interventions. He then discusses the conditions which promote the generalizability of said skills and ethical considerations when working with adults. 

Understanding rules and rule-governed behavior has been a pervasive conceptual issue in behavior analysis since Skinner’s initial analysis in his book, Verbal Behavior (1957). Since then the exact function of rules and verbal stimuli has been a point of conjecture. In this course, Dr. Hank Schlinger, BCBA-D, provides a detailed overview of the history of the analysis of rules and provides a contemporary perspective on rule-governed behavior informed by Blakely and Schlinger (1987a, 1987b).

Reinforcement and its law was a major contributor to the advances made by behavior analysis. However, there is so much more that should be learned regarding contingencies. A better understanding of environmental factors of behavior has aided analysts in analyzing behavior as well as creating treatments for their clients. Antecedent events are just as important as consequences because they directly relate.

Released in 2009, in a historically significant interview with Dr. Jack Michael, conducted by Tate McGhee, Dr. Michael recounts his time before behavior analysis as both a student and a soldier, then explains the chance events that moved him into the field of behavior analysis.

Knowledge of ethical guidelines is an essential component when practicing as a BCBA or completing any form of behavior analytic services or consultations. Thomas Freeman reviews the history of ethical guidelines and codes in ABA, how they have changed, and comparisons between the current ethical guidelines and codes to the previous editions. Dr. Martinez-Diaz then reviews the newest addition to the code, element 10.0, and provides examples of violations within the newest code element.