The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria

Matt Cicoria
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The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria is an interview-based show that features conversations with innovative scientists and practitioners in the field of Behavior Analysis. The podcast covers topics such as Autism, Functional Behavioral Assessment, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Functional Communication Training, Verbal Behavior, and more!

  1. 4h ago

    When Staying Home Works: Understanding School Refusal and Chronic Absenteeism

    Featuring Dr. Paul "Paulie" Gavoni and Matt Cicoria What happens when staying home from school becomes more reinforcing than attending? And how can educators, behavior analysts, and school leaders help students return without inadvertently making the problem worse? In this special episode of the Behavioral Observations Podcast, I'm sharing a conversation I recently had with my good friend and colleague, Dr. Paul "Paulie" Gavoni, on his podcast, The Heart & Science of Leadership. We tackled a topic that's increasingly challenging schools across the country: chronic absenteeism and school refusal. While attendance problems are often discussed in terms of percentages, policies, and accountability, those numbers don't necessarily tell us why an individual student isn't coming to school. From a behavior-analytic perspective, we need to understand the conditions influencing attendance—and how our responses might be helping or inadvertently making matters worse. Paulie and I discuss how avoidance can be negatively reinforced, how preferred activities and attention at home may influence attendance, and why well-intentioned adult responses can sometimes strengthen the very patterns we're trying to change. We also explore the importance of school climate, bullying, housing instability, family circumstances, and building collaborative relationships with caregivers. After all, not every attendance problem is simply a matter of escape-maintained behavior. And importantly, we discuss practical strategies for helping students return to school, including identifying early warning signs, developing individualized plans, and gradually building successful attendance. In this episode, we discuss: The functions of school refusal: Understanding what students may be escaping at school and accessing when they stay home. The avoidance cycle: How immediate relief from uncomfortable situations can make future attendance more difficult. Early warning signs: Morning struggles, tardiness, avoiding particular classes, and leaving school early. The role of caregivers: Why difficult mornings can create reinforcement contingencies for both students and parents—and why blame is counterproductive. Looking beyond attendance numbers: Identifying individual circumstances, including bullying, unsafe environments, and housing instability. Gradual reentry strategies: Building achievable steps toward returning to school rather than expecting immediate full-day attendance. Making schools more reinforcing: The importance of safety, relationships, engaging instruction, and supportive environments. Alternatives to exclusionary discipline: Including a discussion of the Compass Room and whether sending students home can inadvertently reinforce problem behavior. Building rapport with families: Listening and understanding before recommending interventions. Rethinking Resilience: November 10, 2026 This conversation is especially timely because Paulie and I are both participating in RETHINKING RESILIENCE: Building Schools Where Students and Staff Can Adapt, Recover, and Keep Going, a one-day virtual conference taking place on November 10, 2026. The conference brings together experts in behavior analysis and education to explore how schools can create the conditions that help students and staff adapt, recover, and persist through challenges. Rather than treating resilience as something people either have or don't have, we'll examine how environments, skills, and systems can support more successful responding to difficult circumstances. Conference details: Date: November 10, 2026 Format: Virtual, with live and on-demand access for one year Continuing education: 7 BACB CEUs (1 Ethics, 3 Supervision, and 3 General) Discount code: BEHAVIORNAV15 Register here: https://behaviorlive.com/conferences/thebehaviortoolbox265/home If you're unable to attend live, you can watch the recordings afterward and earn the same CEUs. Resources mentioned Session 300 of the BOP - Chronic Absenteeism and School Refusal with Kristen McNeely. Kristen McNeely's website and Instagram. The Heart & Science of Leadership — Dr. Paulie Gavoni's podcast, where this conversation originally appeared. The School Refusal Assessment Scale (SRAS) — A framework for assessing the functions of school refusal behavior. RETHINKING RESILIENCE Virtual Conference — November 10, 2026. Motivational Interviewing: Getting Educator Buy-In — An online course addressing a person-centered approach to helping educators explore and resolve ambivalence toward behavioral interventions and change. Share this episode If you work with students who struggle to attend school—or support the educators and families working to help them—consider sharing this episode with your colleagues. Understanding why students aren't attending is an important step toward helping them return and stay connected.

    When Staying Home Works: Understanding School Refusal and Chronic Absenteeism

  2. Oct 14

    Less Pressure, More Productivity: Rethinking BCBA Billable Hours | Session 340 with Matt Linder

    What happens when an organization responds to a productivity problem by lowering its billable-hour requirement? In Session 340 the Behavioral Observations Podcast, Matt Linder, Chief Operating Officer of First Children's Services, and Founder and CEO of Desired Effect Coaching Solutions, joins me to discuss an organizational challenge that will be familiar to many ABA providers: high BCBA turnover, low morale, and a compensation system built around demanding billable-hour expectations. Matt describes how the existing system required BCBAs to average 28 billable hours per week and included consequences for falling short of those expectations. At the same time, the organization was experiencing substantial BCBA turnover, with 31 BCBAs leaving over an 18-month period. Rather than simply increasing pressure to meet productivity expectations, Matt helped redesign the system. The organization lowered required billable hours by approximately four hours per week while maintaining salaries, and introduced a positive reinforcement-based bonus system that allowed BCBAs to earn additional compensation for exceeding their targets and supervising behavior technicians. How did this all work out? Tune in to hear how making these somewhat counterintuitive changes substantially reduced turnover and increased productivity. During our conversation, Matt and I discuss: Why the original compensation and productivity system was creating problems. How turnover costs helped make the business case for changing the system. The decision to lower billable-hour requirements while maintaining BCBA salaries. Shifting from punitive contingencies to a bonus system based on positive reinforcement. Creating a transparent compensation calculator so employees could see how the new system would affect their earnings. The importance of employee feedback and trust during organizational change. Monitoring for unintended consequences when changing performance contingencies. Why financial and productivity measures aren't sufficient without meaningful measures of clinical outcomes. Developing career ladders and leadership opportunities for RBTs. Lessons for behavior analysts who want to begin doing OBM work. Matt also discusses several initiatives currently underway at First Children's Services, including improved measurement of clinical outcomes, an RBT career ladder and mentorship system, and the integration of newly acquired private schools. Toward the end of the conversation, Matt offers a useful starting point for behavior analysts interested in OBM: identify clearly what you're trying to accomplish, determine how you're going to measure it, and then use behavioral principles to evaluate whether the changes you make are actually producing the outcomes you want. Resources: First Children's Services: firstchildrenservices.com Careers at First Children's Services Matt Linder: mlinder@firstchildrenservices.com Abernathy (2009): Walden Two Revisited: Optimizing Behavioral Systems Abernathy (1996): The Sin of Wages: Where the Conventional Pay System has Led Us, and How to Find a Way Out Binder (2024): The Value in Focusing on Work Outputs Sponsor shoutouts! Behavior University. Their mission is to provide university quality professional development for the busy Behavior Analyst. Learn about their CEU offerings, including their 8-hour Supervision Course, as well as their RBT offerings over at behavioruniversity.com/observations. Don't forget to use the coupon code, PODCAST to save at checkout! Learn from your favorite podcast guests while you're commuting, walking the dog, or whatever else you do while listening to podcasts. New events are being added all the time, so check them out here.  HRIC Recruting. Cut out the middleman and speak directly with Barbara Voss, who's been placing BCBAs in great jobs all across the US for 15 years. Rethinking Resilience: Join The Behavioral Toolbox International on November 10th for a one-day virtual conference focused on building schools where students and staff can adapt, recover, and thrive. Featuring Adithyan Rajaraman, Steven Ward, Paulie Gavoni, and more, this event offers practical strategies for supporting students, educators, and school systems, along with 7 BACB CEUs. Register on BehaviorLive and use promo code BEHAVIORNAV15 to save $15!

    Less Pressure, More Productivity: Rethinking BCBA Billable Hours | Session 340 with Matt Linder

  3. Sep 21

    Are we thinking about prompts all wrong? Session 339 with Andy Bondy

    What exactly do we mean when we say we're "fading" a prompt? Is a physical prompt inherently more intrusive—or more difficult to eliminate—than a gestural or verbal prompt? And what does "errorless learning" actually tell us about the teaching procedures we're using? Dr. Andy Bondy returns to the podcast to tackle these questions through the lens of gradualism: the idea that meaningful behavioral change often emerges through small changes that accumulate over time. Andy has recently been presenting on gradualism to behavior analysts and other professionals, and in this conversation we explore what the concept might contribute to the way we think about teaching, prompting, generalization, and skill development. We begin by discussing gradualism across fields such as biology, geology, and psychology before turning to its implications for behavior analysis. Andy contrasts the traditional tendency to examine discrete behavioral units with an approach that considers the flow of behavior across longer periods of time. From there, we take a closer look at prompts. Andy distinguishes prompts from cues and argues that prompts should be defined functionally—by whether they actually improve performance—rather than simply by their form. We also examine some familiar language surrounding prompt hierarchies. In particular, Andy questions terms such as "intrusiveness" and "restrictiveness" when those properties aren't tied to directly measurable dimensions. If we're fading a prompt, he argues, we should be able to say what we're actually changing: distance, force, volume, time, or another measurable property. This leads to a larger question: Is there evidence that particular types of prompts are universally easier or harder to fade? We discuss the implications of that question for commonly used least-to-most and most-to-least prompting systems, as well as what it might look like to assess prompt effectiveness at the level of the individual learner and skill rather than relying exclusively on predetermined hierarchies. Later in the conversation, we broaden the discussion to generalization and fluency. Andy argues that programming for generalization shouldn't begin only after a skill reaches mastery and that behavior analysts should attend not only to stimulus generalization, but also to important dimensions of the response itself—including rate, duration, speed, and fluency. Finally, we discuss "errorless learning." Andy questions whether the term provides enough information about what an instructor is actually doing and suggests that minimizing errors—while naming the specific procedures being used, such as fading or time delay—may be a more useful way to describe our teaching. Topics discussed include: What gradualism means in behavior analysis Prompts versus cues What makes a prompt a prompt Prompt fading versus changing prompt types Problems with terms such as "intrusiveness" and "restrictiveness" Whether prompt hierarchies should be individualized Assessing prompt effectiveness Stimulus and response generalization Accuracy versus fluency Programming for rate and speed Why generalization should be considered from the beginning of instruction "Errorless learning" versus minimizing errors The importance of describing teaching procedures in measurable, observable terms This conversation offers a useful challenge to several pieces of behavior-analytic terminology that can become so familiar that we stop asking exactly what they mean—and whether our language accurately describes what we're doing. If you want to hear more from Andy, you can join him, along with Lori Frost and other invited speakers from around the world on October 20th for the Pyramid FUNctional Conference 2026: Learning That Lasts. Explore practical strategies for supporting communication, independence, safety, access, and meaningful outcomes across the lifespan. This episode is brought to you by the following sponsors: Behavior University. Their mission is to provide university quality professional development for the busy Behavior Analyst. Learn about their CEU offerings, including their 8-hour Supervision Course, as well as their RBT offerings over at behavioruniversity.com/observations. Don't forget to use the coupon code, PODCAST to save at checkout! Safety-Care is a crisis prevention and de-escalation training program designed for professionals who support individuals with challenging behavior. More than 300,000 professionals have been trained in Safety-Care's evidence-based approach to recognizing early warning signs and responding with confidence. To learn more, visit QBS.com/podcast. Learn from your favorite podcast guests while you're commuting, walking the dog, or whatever else you do while listening to podcasts. New events are being added all the time, so check them out here.  HRIC Recruting. Cut out the middleman and speak directly with Barbara Voss, who's been placing BCBAs in great jobs all across the US for 15 years.

    Are we thinking about prompts all wrong? Session 339 with Andy Bondy

  4. Aug 27

    Safety, Dignity, and Clinical Judgement in Skills Based Treatment: Session 338 with Cory Whelan

    What does it look like to assess and treat severe problem behavior when safety concerns have become so significant that a student can no longer participate successfully in their typical school environment? In this episode, Dr. Cory Whelan joins me to discuss his work at Seasons Behavioral Services, where he and Dr. Kara LaCroix have developed an intensive model for assessing and treating dangerous behavior while helping students build the skills they'll need to return to less restrictive settings. Cory brings an unusual perspective to this work. He is dually certified as a speech-language pathologist and behavior analyst, and his career has taken him from challenging school environments in Washington, D.C., to doctoral training at Western New England University, where he worked with Dr. Greg Hanley and became involved in the development and application of practical functional assessment and skill-based treatment approaches. We talk about how Seasons works with students who may be waiting for an out-of-district placement—or whose behavior has become too dangerous for their current educational setting—and what happens during their approximately three-month intensive treatment model. Cory describes how his team uses a universal protocol when students first arrive, with an emphasis on minimizing evocative situations and creating conditions in which students can safely engage with staff before assessment begins. From there, we walk through their approach to caregiver interviews, practical functional assessment, and skill-based treatment. We also spend quite a bit of time discussing something that can sometimes get lost when talking about highly technical treatment procedures: clinical judgment. Cory explains why he trains staff not simply to follow a protocol mechanically, but to continually evaluate what is happening in front of them and make decisions that prioritize the safety and dignity of the person they're serving. We discuss what that looks like when problem behavior occurs unexpectedly, why backing off from a demand isn't necessarily a clinical failure, and how thoughtful decision-making fits within function-based treatment. We also get into some of the nuances of conducting effective functional assessment interviews, including: Building rapport before jumping into questions about problem behavior. Identifying precursors and subtle indicators that a situation is becoming difficult. Asking about activities caregivers or staff may have stopped attempting altogether. Using clinical judgment alongside structured interview tools. What it means when an analysis doesn't produce the behavior you expected to see. Finally, we discuss one of the hardest parts of intensive behavioral treatment: generalization and transition. A student may make tremendous progress in a highly trained treatment environment, but what happens when they move to a school or program with different staff, resources, and contingencies? Cory shares both the successes and limitations they've encountered when trying to support receiving programs and maintain treatment gains across settings. If you're interested in practical functional assessment and skill-based treatment—particularly how these approaches work with severe behavior in real-world clinical and educational environments—I think you'll get a lot out of this conversation. Resources Mentioned Seasons Behavioral Services (which, by the way, is an awesome place to work!) Practical Functional Assessment resources - we cited numerous papers in the PFA/SBT literature. Rather than link them all, you can find downloadable PDFs of all of them here. OG podcasts on PFA/SBT to get you up to speed. Sessions 1, 7, 20, 94, 160, 219, and 283. I could cite many more, but these will give you a great start. Shoutout to The Hawaii Association for Behavior Analysis. Sponsor Shoutouts CEUs from Behavioral Observations. Learn from your favorite podcast guests while you're commuting, walking the dog, or whatever else you do while listening to podcasts. New events are being added all the time, so check them out here.  The BOP Patreon. Do you want to get the show ad-free and before everyone else? Click here to learn how! Safety-Care is a crisis prevention and de-escalation training program designed for professionals who support individuals with challenging behavior. More than 300,000 professionals have been trained in Safety-Care's evidence-based approach to recognizing early warning signs and responding with confidence. To learn more, visit QBS.com/podcast. The Behavioral Toolbox International. Check out our courses for school-based and other behavioral professionals, including our newest one, Motivational Interviewing: Getting Educator Buy-In. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider sharing it with a colleague and leaving a rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts.

    Safety, Dignity, and Clinical Judgement in Skills Based Treatment: Session 338 with Cory Whelan

  5. Aug 12

    What is Gestalt Language Processing? Session 337 with Kathleen Oppenheimer

    Gestalt Language Processing (GLP) and Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) have become extraordinarily popular in speech-language pathology, particularly in conversations about autistic children who use echolalia. But what exactly is a "Gestalt Language Processor?" How would we know if someone is one? And perhaps most importantly, what does the research actually tell us about the claims and treatment recommendations associated with GLP and NLA? In this episode, I'm joined by speech-language pathologist Kathleen Oppenheimer, who has spent considerable time examining these questions through the lens of language science and psycholinguistics. Kathleen describes how she first encountered GLP and NLA on social media during the pandemic and why some of the claims she encountered immediately raised questions for her as someone trained in linguistics. We unpack the distinction between language production and language processing, and discuss why observing the words and phrases a child says cannot necessarily tell us how that child is processing language. We also explore an important nuance in this debate: Many practices commonly associated with NLA are quite reasonable—and in some cases very well aligned with established, evidence-based approaches. Following the child's lead, building strong therapeutic relationships, recognizing echolalia as meaningful communication, and honoring multiple forms of communication are all valuable practices. But those practices aren't unique to NLA. Kathleen contrasts NLA recommendations with research-supported approaches such as Enhanced Milieu Teaching, and explains why recommendations involving prompting, single-word models, verbs, and grammatical language input matter for language development. Along the way, we discuss: What GLP and NLA actually claim about language development. Why defining and reliably identifying a "Gestalt Language Processor" is more difficult than social media might suggest. The difference between what a child says and how researchers determine what a child is actually processing. What psycholinguistic methods such as the visual world paradigm can tell us about real-time language comprehension. Why echolalia can be meaningful communication without accepting the larger GLP/NLA framework. The substantial areas of common ground between NLA proponents and research-aligned language interventions. Why following a child's lead and honoring their communication does not require adopting NLA stages. How Enhanced Milieu Teaching differs from NLA-based intervention. Concerns about recommendations to avoid or delay modeling single words, verbs, and certain grammatical forms. What we know—and don't know—about the empirical evidence supporting GLP/NLA. How social media can turn nuanced clinical ideas into much broader claims. The potential costs of implementing unsupported interventions, even when those interventions appear benign. How clinicians can have productive conversations with colleagues and families who have embraced GLP/NLA. Why clear, jargon-free explanations of what we're doing in therapy—and why we're doing it—matter. One thing I especially appreciated about this conversation is that Kathleen doesn't approach this as a simple choice between being "for" or "against" GLP/NLA. Instead, she encourages us to pull apart the individual claims and practices, retain the components that are supported by evidence, and scrutinize those that aren't. For clinicians navigating an increasingly complicated landscape of research, social media, and rapidly spreading treatment approaches, I think that's an incredibly useful framework. Resources discussed in this episode: Kathleen's Instagram: @language_processing Kathleen's course: GLP and NLA: Analyzing the Claims and Evidence. Kathleen's website: Oppenheimer Speech and Language, LLC. Lorang, et al., (2026). A Response to Blanc and Colleagues' Viewpoint on Gestalt Language Processing and the Natural Language Acquisition Protocol: Concerns and Common Ground. Hutchins, et al., (2024). Natural Language Acquisition and Gestalt Language Processing: A Critical Analysis of Their Application to Autism and Speech Language Therapy. Dollaghan, C. (2007). Evidence-based practice in communication disorders. Bredin-Oja and Fey (2014). Children's Responses to Telegraphic and Grammatically Complete Prompts to Imitate. Kang, et al., (2025). Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Enhanced Milieu Teaching. Sponsor shoutouts: Behavior University. Their mission is to provide university quality professional development for the busy Behavior Analyst. Learn about their CEU offerings, including their 8-hour Supervision Course, as well as their RBT offerings over at behavioruniversity.com/observations. Don't forget to use the coupon code, PODCAST to save at checkout! Safety-Care is a crisis prevention and de-escalation training program designed for professionals who support individuals with challenging behavior. More than 300,000 professionals have been trained in Safety-Care's evidence-based approach to recognizing early warning signs and responding with confidence. To learn more, visit QBS.com/podcast. Learn from your favorite podcast guests while you're commuting, walking the dog, or whatever else you do while listening to podcasts. New events are being added all the time, so check them out here.  HRIC Recruting. Cut out the middleman and speak directly with Barbara Voss, who's been placing BCBAs in great jobs all across the US for 15 years. The BOP Patreon. Do you want to get the show ad-free and before everyone else? Click here to learn how!

    What is Gestalt Language Processing? Session 337 with Kathleen Oppenheimer

  6. Jul 24

    What is Facilitated Communication? BOP Rewind | Session 199/336 | Jason Travers

    Welcome to Session 336 The Behavioral Observations Podcast. Well technically, this is actually Session 199, and I wanted to take a minute to explain why you're hearing a rebroadcast. This conversation with Dr. Jason Travers originally aired back in September of 2022, but I've decided it's worth bringing back because, unfortunately, the issues surrounding Facilitated Communication haven't gone away. In fact, if anything, they've become more relevant. Over the past several years, we've continued to see heartwarming news stories and viral social media posts featuring non-speaking autistic individuals who appear to be communicating through methods such as Facilitated Communication, the Rapid Prompting Method, or Spelling to Communicate. These stories are understandably compelling. We all want people with significant communication challenges to have access to effective ways to express themselves. The problem is that hope, by itself, isn't evidence. Facilitated Communication has been studied extensively for decades, and the scientific record is remarkably consistent. The evidence has repeatedly shown that the messages produced through FC originate with the facilitator, not the individual. Despite that, these practices continue to find new audiences under different names and in different settings. As behavior analysts—and really, as anyone who cares about helping people with disabilities—we have an obligation to evaluate interventions based on evidence, even when the conclusions are uncomfortable. That's especially true when the potential harms are so significant, not only for the individuals using these methods, but also for their families, educators, and support teams. I also think this episode serves as a useful foundation because I plan to cover this topic in greater depth over the coming months, along with other interventions that have gained popularity despite lacking scientific support. Rather than assuming everyone has heard this discussion before, I thought it made sense to revisit what I think is one of the clearest introductions to the topic. So whether you're hearing this conversation for the first time or giving it another listen, I hope you'll pay particular attention to the history of Facilitated Communication, how it was scientifically evaluated, why those findings matter, and how Dr. Travers recommends discussing these issues with colleagues and families in a way that's both accurate and compassionate. Please note that I edited out the "how did you get into ABA segment," so you can get right to the heart of the topic. I'll include links to the original recording if you want to go back and hear more about Jason's background. Here are the shownotes from the original broadcast: If your social media consumption is anything like mine, you've likely seen some feel-good stories in the media as of late that report on non-speaking students - generally students with Autism - who are graduating from college, giving valedictorian speeches, and so forth.  Unfortunately, what's often underpinning many of these cases is a form of Facilitated Communication, or FC for short. What is FC? Glad you asked! In today's episode, Dr. Jason Travers, Associate Professor at Temple University, joins me today to answer this very question (follow him on Twitter here).  We covered the history of Facilitated Communication, the early scientific investigations that discredited this practice, FC's variants like the Rapid Prompting Method and Spelling to Communicate, where the practice of FC stands today, the harms that Facilitated Communication causes both users and caregivers, and how Behavior Analysts should both view and talk about these practices.  Jason also provides the audience with a treasure trove of additional resources: Jason's Research Gate and Google Scholar pages. The original Session 199 broadcast. Jason's on-demand CEU on Spelling2Communicate (use promo code PODCAST to save at checkout!). Facilitatedcommunication.org  ASHA Policy Statements on Facilitated Communication and Rapid Prompting Method. Facilitated Communication—what harm it can do: Confessions of a former facilitator (Boynton, 2012). An Examination of the Role of the Facilitator in "Facilitated Communication" (Shane and Kearns, 1994). Ideomotor Effect explained. The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (note: Amazon Associated link). Skeptic Magazine (Amazon Associate Link); The Skeptical Inquirer.  The Reading Wars. Facilitated Communication: The Clinical and Social Phenomenon (Shane 1994; Amazon Associate Link). Sponsor shoutouts! Behavior University. Their mission is to provide university quality professional development for the busy Behavior Analyst. Learn about their CEU offerings, including their 8-hour Supervision Course, as well as their RBT offerings over at behavioruniversity.com/observations. Don't forget to use the coupon code, PODCAST to save at checkout! Safety-Care is a crisis prevention and de-escalation training program designed for professionals who support individuals with challenging behavior. More than 300,000 professionals have been trained in Safety-Care's evidence-based approach to recognizing early warning signs and responding with confidence. To learn more, visit QBS.com/podcast. Learn from your favorite podcast guests while you're commuting, walking the dog, or whatever else you do while listening to podcasts. New events are being added all the time, so check them out here.  HRIC Recruting. Cut out the middleman and speak directly with Barbara Voss, who's been placing BCBAs in great jobs all across the US for 15 years. The BOP Patreon. Do you want to get the show ad-free and before everyone else? Click here to learn how!

    What is Facilitated Communication? BOP Rewind | Session 199/336 | Jason Travers

  7. Jul 14

    Conducta Verbal: Cultura, Contexto y Comunicación Funcional | BOP en ESP 18 con Janet Enriquez

    En este episodio, Miguel conversa con Janet sobre la conducta verbal desde una perspectiva práctica y cultural. A lo largo de la conversación, exploran por qué la conducta verbal sigue siendo una de las áreas más importantes —y a veces más incomprendidas— dentro del análisis de conducta y la educación. Janet comparte su trayectoria como latina, educadora, investigadora y líder en múltiples iniciativas dentro del campo, así como su experiencia trabajando con comunidades bilingües y culturalmente diversas. Juntos discuten conceptos fundamentales de la conducta verbal, diferencias entre el enfoque de Skinner y la lingüística tradicional, y cómo la motivación, la función y el contexto transforman la manera en que entendemos la comunicación. El episodio también aborda temas esenciales como el acceso a formación en español, los retos de trabajar con herramientas centradas en el inglés y la necesidad de desarrollar prácticas verdaderamente culturalmente responsivas. Además, conversan sobre iniciativas en América Latina, mentoría para nuevos analistas de conducta, investigación aplicada y el futuro de la conducta verbal en comunidades hispanohablantes. Una conversación profunda, accesible y relevante para analistas de conducta, educadores, terapeutas, estudiantes y familias interesadas en comprender la comunicación desde una perspectiva más funcional, humana y contextualizada. Verbal Behavior: Culture, Context, and Functional Communication In this episode, Miguel speaks with Janet about verbal behavior from a practical and cultural perspective. Throughout the conversation, they explore why verbal behavior continues to be one of the most important — and sometimes misunderstood — areas within behavior analysis and education. Janet shares her journey as a Latina educator, researcher, and leader across multiple initiatives in the field, as well as her experience working with bilingual and culturally diverse communities. Together, they discuss foundational concepts in verbal behavior, differences between Skinner's approach and traditional linguistics, and how motivation, function, and context shape the way we understand communication. The episode also addresses key topics such as access to verbal behavior training in Spanish, challenges associated with English-centered tools and terminology, and the importance of culturally responsive practices. In addition, they discuss initiatives across Latin America, mentorship for emerging behavior analysts, applied research, and the future of verbal behavior within Spanish-speaking communities. A thoughtful, accessible, and highly relevant conversation for behavior analysts, educators, therapists, students, and families interested in understanding communication through a more functional, humane, and contextualized lens.

    Conducta Verbal: Cultura, Contexto y Comunicación Funcional | BOP en ESP 18 con Janet Enriquez

  8. Jun 30

    Essential for Living in Action: Building Meaningful Skills Through Everyday Events | Session 334 with Kristina Montgomery and Emily Beal Wilkinson

    Many behavior analysts have experienced the frustration of teaching a skill successfully in one setting only to discover that it doesn't transfer to the situations where it actually matters. In this episode, I sit down with Kristina Montgomery and Emily Beal Wilkinson of Victory Academy to discuss how Essential for Living (EFL) and event-based teaching can help bridge that gap. Kristina and Emily share their professional journeys into behavior analysis and describe how discovering Dr. Patrick McGreevy's Essential for Living framework reshaped their approach to supporting learners with limited skill repertoires. Rather than focusing on isolated skill acquisition, EFL prioritizes the development of functional, meaningful skills that improve quality of life and increase independence. A major focus of our conversation is event-based teaching, an instructional approach that embeds learning opportunities within naturally occurring and highly meaningful activities. From gardening and cooking to operating school cafés and participating in role-playing activities, Kristina and Emily explain how these experiences allow practitioners to teach multiple skills simultaneously while creating natural sources of reinforcement. We also discuss: How Kristina and Emily first discovered Essential for Living and why it resonated with their clinical experiences. Why traditional skill-building approaches sometimes fail to produce meaningful generalization. The concept of "stacking" activities to address multiple goals through a single event. Examples of event-based teaching activities including gardening, cooking, cafés, and community-based experiences. A detailed case study illustrating the transition from VB-MAPP-style programming to contextual, event-based instruction. How literacy, communication, social, and adaptive skills can be embedded within meaningful activities. The role of natural reinforcement in improving learner engagement. Their innovative health and wellness program designed to teach tolerance for medical and dental procedures. How desensitization training can reduce the need for sedation, restraint, and other restrictive practices. The collateral benefits these programs create for families and healthcare providers. Research questions related to contextual instruction, assessment, staff satisfaction, and BCBA training. Advice for newly certified behavior analysts on professional development and values-based practice. This episode will be especially valuable for behavior analysts, special educators, and anyone supporting individuals with significant support needs who are looking for practical ways to make instruction more meaningful, functional, and socially significant. Resources discussed in this episode: Essential for Living Dr. Patrick McGreevy (see Pat's previous BOP episodes here!) Victory Academy Katy Bowman and the concept of activity stacking Session 218 with Troy Fry Event Based Teaching course (save with code BOP20) Essential for Living course (save with code BOP20) Sponsor Shoutouts CEUs from Behavioral Observations. Learn from your favorite podcast guests while you're commuting, walking the dog, or whatever else you do while listening to podcasts. New events are being added all the time, so check them out here.  The BOP Patreon. Do you want to get the show ad-free and before everyone else? Click here to learn how! Safety-Care is a crisis prevention and de-escalation training program designed for professionals who support individuals with challenging behavior. More than 300,000 professionals have been trained in Safety-Care's evidence-based approach to recognizing early warning signs and responding with confidence. To learn more, visit QBS.com/podcast. The Behavioral Toolbox International. Check out our courses for school-based and other behavioral professionals, including our newest one, Motivational Interviewing: Getting Educator Buy-In. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider sharing it with a colleague and leaving a rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts.

    Essential for Living in Action: Building Meaningful Skills Through Everyday Events | Session 334 with Kristina Montgomery and Emily Beal Wilkinson
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The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria is an interview-based show that features conversations with innovative scientists and practitioners in the field of Behavior Analysis. The podcast covers topics such as Autism, Functional Behavioral Assessment, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Functional Communication Training, Verbal Behavior, and more!

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