The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria Matt Cicoria

If you're a student, supervisor, or university instructor, this is an episode for you. In Session 259, I speak with Dana Meller and Dr. Steve Eversole, of Pass The Big ABA Exam and Behavior Development Solutions, respectively. In this conversation, they reflect on what they've learned about helping thousands of people pass the BCBA exam over many years.
In this conversation, we covered why they got into the test prep business, the state of BCBA testing today, re-taking the exam, interpreting the board's re-take data, barriers to passing the exam - including things like test anxiety and specific topics of difficulty, their counterintuitive opinions on SAFMEDS and mock exams, the role of social media, and how both of them became friends despite being competitors.
Here are the links we discussed:
Pass The Big ABA Exam main site.
Behavior Development Solutions main site.
Center for Behavior and Climate.
Dana and Steve on LinkedIn.
Honig and Staddon, Handbook of Operant Behavior.
Bloom's Taxonomy.
The University of American Samoa.
The BDS Podcast.
This podcast is brought to you by:
ACE Approved CEUs from .... Behavioral Observations. That's right, get your CEUs while driving, walking your dog, doing the dishes, or whatever else you might have going on, all while learning from your favorite podcast guests! The University of Cincinnati Online. UC Online designed a Master of Education in Behavior Analysis program that is 100% online and asynchronous, meaning you log on when it works for you. Want to learn more? Go to online.uc.edu and click the “request info” button. TheBehavioralToolbox.com. If you're a BCBA working in public schools, or if you are a special educator, teacher, school pscyhologist, administrtor, or school counselor... basically anyone who is in the business of student behavior, check out The Behavioral Toolbox's asynchronous professional development courses, including our new course, "When Not to FBA: 5 Quick Strategies for Improving Behavior in the Classroom."

Dr. Alycia Halladay joins we to discuss the topic of Profound Autism. If you're not familiar with Alycia's work, she is the Chief Science Officer for The Autism Science Foundation, and host of the excellent show, The ASF Weekly Science Podcast. 
In this episode, we discuss the changes in Autism diagnosis from the DSM IV to V, the Lancet Commission paper on Profound Autism, why there is a need for this distinction in the Autism spectrum, the conditions under which an individual would be classified as having Profound Autism, the estimated proportion of Autistics who have Profound Autism, the differences in the distribution of sex-based differences in Profound and Non-profound populations, person vs. identity-first language, the importance of reducing stigma for everyone with Autism, criticisms of the proposal of this category, and responses to those criticisms. Even though we packed a lot into this interview, there is way more to this conversation than we had time for, so I'd like to revisit this again sometime in the future.
In the meantime, if  you're in the New England area, consider attending The Profound Autism Summit, which is taking place on April 5th, 2024 in Burlington, Massachusetts. Alycia will be speaking at that event, and will go into even more detail than we did in this podcast. It's a multi track conference that, according to the PAS site, aims to "bring together leaders from the areas of research, medicine, treatment, advocacy, education, and human services to discuss the needs of those with Profound Autism across disciplines and throughout the lifespan."
Even though the Profound Autism Summit features talks from notable Behavior Analysts like Drs. Greg Hanley, Shanna Bahry, Peter Gerhardt, Jessica Slaton and others, it's not just an ABA conference. There will be speakers and panelists representing advocacy groups, emergency services personnel, service providers, and more (check out the entire speakers roster here). 
The PAS is right around the corner and is almost sold out, so if you're on the fence and are looking for some motivation, here it is (register your spot here!). If you can't make it, consider signing up for their mailing list, as I believe they'll be making the talks available  asynchronously some time down the road. 
Did you know that if you use Apple Podcasts as your player, you can get transcripts to this show? See this for a tutorial. Register for the Profound Autism Summit! Hop on their 100% non-spammy email list for updates on Profound Autism. Session 248: A review of Autism diagnostic practices. Lord et al. (2021). The Lancet Commission on the future of care and clinical research in autism. ASF's post on the Lancet Commission paper.  ASF Weekly Science Podcast homepage.  ASF Weekly Science Podcast recommendation 1: Nobody ever talks about catatonia. ASF Weekly Science Podcast recommendation 2: "Emergent and Transactional," with Dr. Andrew Whitehouse.  This podcast is brought to you by:
ACE Approved CEUs from .... Behavioral Observations. That's right, get your CEUs while driving, walking your dog, doing the dishes, or whatever else you might have going on, all while learning from your favorite podcast guests! The University of Cincinnati Online. UC Online designed a Master of Education in Behavior Analysis program that is 100% online and asynchronous, meaning you log on when it works for you. Want to learn more? Go to online.uc.edu and click the “request info” button. 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.

I'm thrilled to be joined by none other than Dr. Tim Vollmer. In this podcast, we talk about a wide variety of research and practice topics, as well as some funny stories from his long and prolific career.
Specifically, talk about how his dog ate his copy of Strategies and Tactics, how he and his colleagues analyzed 2 and 3-point shot patterns in basketball games, his line of research that examined The Good Behavior Game, Behavior Analysis and the game of Poker, and his take on why he and his students have such an affinity for one another. 
That's not all. We probably spent the most amount of time discussing the topic of ignoring in the context of Behavioral Intervention Plans, and its potential problems. 
I really hope you stick around until the end of the podcast, because we close the show in a slightly different format. Instead of asking Tim my normal closing question (advice for the newly minted), I ask him to share his thoughts on the future direction of Behavior Analysis, including both risks and opportunities.
Here are the links to the resources we mentioned:
Beyond Freedom and Dignity (note: Amazon Associates Link). Vollmer and Bourret (2013). An application of the Matching Law to evaluate two and three-point shots by college basketball players.  Football Behavior (BA-driven sports analytics from Brett Yarris). Chris Bosh on the Tim Ferriss show (wherein Chris discusses the evolution 3-point shooting strategy in the NBA). Strategies and Tactics for Behavioral Research and Practice, 4th edition (note: Amazon Associates Link). (Lloveras et al., 2023). Recommendations Regarding Use of the Term “Ignore” in Applied Behavior Analysis. Good Behavior Game episode with Dr. Jeanne Donaldson. Lambert et al., (2006). Effects of response cards on disruptive behavior and academic responding during math lessons by fourth-grade urban students. (this is the paper I mentioned from Bill Heward's research group, and I mistakenly noted that it was published in 1996, when in fact it was published in 2006).  Follow Tim's lab on Instagram! This podcast is brought to you by:
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. ACE Approved CEUs from .... Behavioral Observations. That's right, get your CEUs while driving, walking your dog, doing the dishes, or whatever else you might have going on, all while learning from your favorite podcast guests! The Behavioral Toolbox. thebehavioraltoolbox.com is a new education and training site that my colleagues Anika Costa and Dr. Paulie Gavoni and I have been working on for over two years. If you’re a Behavior Analyst working in public schools, please check out our first course, Ready, Set, Consult! Our second course, When Not to FBA: 5 Strategies to Implement before Conducting a Functional Assessment, will also be out soon, and more trainings are on the way!  

Las conversaciones acerca del alcance de nuestra práctica y de nuestras competencias son muy comunes hoy en día en nuestra profesión. Los fonoaudiólogos y los analistas de conducta coinciden frecuentemente en los apoyos e intervenciones para el desarrollo de habilidades comunicativas. Coinciden en la práctica y en algunos casos en competencias desde un mismo enfoque o en otros desde un ángulo distinto. En una efectiva colaboración entre estas disciplinas es importante reconocer los marcos conceptuales y las tecnologías que ambas disciplinas proponen para así maximizar las maneras en que las mismas se complementan y se superponen. En otras palabras, donde las disciplinas se encuentran. Existen ‘unicornios’ capacitados en ambas disciplinas que nos demuestran el potencial de esta amalgama. Estefania Alarcón Moya es una de estas personas y en este episodio nos comparte sus perspectivas como analista de conducta/fonoaudióloga.
Referencias
Esch, B. E., LaLonde, K. B., & Esch, J. W. (2010). Speech and language assessment: A verbal behavior analysis. The Journal of Speech and Language Pathology – Applied Behavior Analysis, 5(2), 166–191.https://doi.org/10.1037/h0100270
Koenig, M., & Gerenser, J. (2006). SLP-ABA: Collaborating to support individuals with communication impairments. The Journal of Speech and Language Pathology – Applied Behavior Analysis, 1(1), 2–10. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0100180
Spencer, T. D., Slim, L., Cardon, T., & Morgan, L. (2020). Interprofessional collaborative practice between behavior analysts and speech-language pathologists. Association for Behavior Analysis.https://www.abainternational.org/constituents/practitioners/interprofessional-collaborative-practice.aspx
The intersection between speech and language therapy and behavior analysis with Estefania Alarcón Moya
Conversations about our scope of practice and competencies are very common in our profession today. Speech therapists and behavior analysts frequently overlap on supports and interventions for the development of communication skills. They coincide in practice and in some cases in competencies from the same approach or in others from a different angle. In effective collaboration between these disciplines, it is important to recognize the conceptual frameworks and technologies that both disciplines propose in order to maximize the ways in which they complement and overlap. In other words, where the disciplines meet. There are 'unicorns' trained in both disciplines who show us the potential of this amalgam. Estefania Alarcón Moya is one of these people and in this episode she shares her perspectives as a behavior analyst/speech therapist.

In the 18th installment of the Inside JABA Series, Dr. Dorothea Lerman joins Editor-in-Chief John Borrero and I to talk about her dissemination efforts, which are described in the Winter 2024 issue of the journal. Specifically, we talk about her discussion paper, "Putting the power of behavior analysis in the hands of nonbehavioral professionals: Toward a blueprint for dissemination."
 

This paper is definitely worth checking out. In it, Dorothy describes some common barriers to disseminating behavioral strategies and how to overcome them. We then talk about the blueprint she offers for dissemination, which is broken down into seven steps.
 

These dissemination efforts are described in the context of Dorothy's outreach to public school educators, law enforcement personnel, and health care providers, settings where Dorothy and her colleagues have made successful inroads. Not to spoil the show's content too much, but we touch on the alarming stats regarding the percentage of individuals with disabilities who are either sedated or restrained during dental procedures, and what can be done to improve them.
 

Even if you don't have a desire to bring behavior-analytic strategies to a novel setting, upon listening to the conversation a second time, I think there are lessons from this podcast that you can use in your daily practice. Things like gathering information about a particular culture or setting, describing concepts and principles in plain language, conducting experiments to see if what you're doing is working... you get the idea.
 

We also spend a decent amount of time talking about sustaining behavioral practices once they've been implemented in new settings.
 

One of the things that I forgot to mention during the podcast is that if you're really into dissemination, check out the new edited work, "Disseminating Behavioral Research," in which, coincidentally, the ABA Inside Track crew and I contributed a chapter called, "Non Traditional Options for Dissemination." I'll leave it to you to guess what medium we focused on.
 

Lastly, the Winter 2024 issue of JABA features several moving tributes to Drs. Brian Iwata, Hank Pennypacker, and Ronnie Detrich. Dorothy and Dr. Jennifer Fritz contributed a memoriam to Brian Iwata, and it's well worth checking out. In the first few minutes of the show, Dorothy shared some poignant stories about how Brian influenced her career, and John discussed the responsibility associated with curating the various tributes for this edition of JABA.
 
Relatedly, for the next three months, all of these In Memoriam articles will be freely available, so in the unlikely event you're not a JABA subscriber, you can still check them out. 

Here are the resources we discussed:

Putting the power of behavior analysis in the hands of nonbehavioral professionals: Toward a blueprint for dissemination.
Brian A. Iwata, PhD: A Life Well Lived.
Dorothy's previous Inside JABA appearance (correction: in the podcast, I incorrectly noted that she appeared in the first Inside JABA episode. She appeared in the fourth episode of the Inside JABA Series).
Southwell et al. (2005). Strategies for effective dissemination of the outcomes of teaching and learning projects.
Houston, TX Police Department 2019 Annual Report (check out p. 18!).
Main JABA site where you can subscribe and access selected free articles.
Griffith and Ré (2023): Disseminating Behavioral Research (note: Amazon Associates link).
Critchfield et al. (2017). On the social validity of behavior analytic communication: A call for research and description of one method.
Previous BOP episodes covering law enforcement interventions.
Kramer Davis Healthcare (company I mentioned that specializes in providing medical services to individuals with IDD).
Allgood and Gravina (2021). Branching Out: Finding Success in New Areas of Practice.
Normand and Kohn (2013). Don't wag the dog: ext

Fan-favorite Dr. Andy Bondy joins me again to talk about... you guessed it... AAC!
In this episode, we discuss a paper he published last year in the journal, Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders, that is titled, "Issues Related to AAC and SGD Use by Adolescents and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder."
We get into why he felt this paper was necessary to write, how he chose to communicate his thoughts to an audience beyond those of us in behavior analysis, why he likes the term, "under what conditions" so much, what does and does not constitute a "robust" communication repertoire, the role of teaching words like "please" and Andy's nuanced view of this practice, whether the sound from Speech Generation Devices matter, and lots more. 
We also got into a really interesting discussion on the distinction between pointing to pictures vs. exchanging them with communicative partners, and how that difference impacts Joint Attention. 
We closed the show by talking about two topics that have been receiving lots of discussion as of late: Spelling to Communicate and Gestalt Language Processing. Lastly, ended the show by taking a question from a Patreon member about Andy's thoughts regarding the use of activity schedules, and whether they qualify as prompts, or something else. 
Andy's previous episodes (the shownotes to these shows also have many links to great studies germane to this episode). Jason Traver's episode. All things PECS.  A critical review of Natural Language Acquisition. GLP is a Fad IG page.  SLPs against pseudoscience IG page.  This episode is brought to you by:
The University of Cincinnati Online. UC Online designed a Master of Education in Behavior Analysis program that is 100% online and asynchronous, meaning you log on when it works for you. Want to learn more? Go to online.uc.edu and click the “request info” button. 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. ACE Approved CEUs from .... Behavioral Observations. That's right, get your CEUs while driving, walking your dog, doing the dishes, or whatever else you might have going on, all while learning from your favorite podcast guests! 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.