Episode 159 - ACT in the Time of COVID w/ Dr. Evelyn Gould

Maybe it’s the lousy Smarch weather, but we’re in a bit of a mood to start of this month. Not because our special guests aren’t awesome. We had so much fun learning about qualitative analyses in exploring RBT burnout with Dr. Nicole Gravina and how to be more ethically responsible in creating meaningful goals for autistic adolescents and adults with Dr. Shanna Bahry. And not because we’re not reviewing tough issues like turnover in human services, deconstructing ableist practices in the medical model, and respectfully disagreeing with the abolitionist neurodiversity critique. Now that I’m writing about all the awesome episodes coming out this month, I can’t even remember why we sound so crabby. Oh, right…the state of the United States political system. And rude emails. Articles for March 2025 Qualitative Analysis of RBT Burnout w/ Dr. Nicole Gravina Nastasi, J.A., McGarry, K.M., Peters, K.P., Leon, Y., Bacotti, J.K., & Gravina, N. (2024). A qualitative analysis of variables contributing to the Registered Behavior Technicians’ burnout and turnover in Florida. Behavior Analysis in Practice. doi: 10.1007/s40617-024-01033-w Nastasi, J.A., Green, V., Te, P.J., & Gravina, N.E. (2024). “Everybody needs to take breaks”: A qualitative analysis of Registered Behavior Technicians’ experiences with taking breaks at work. Behavior Analysis in Practice. doi: 10.1007/s40617-024-00973-7 The Ethics of Meaningful Goals w/ Dr. Shanna Bahry (ETHICS) Bahry, S., Gerhardt, P.F., Weiss, M.J., Leaf, J.B., Putnam, R.F., & Bondy, A. (2022). The ethics of actually helping people: Targeting skill acquisition goals that promote meaningful outcomes for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 16, 672-695. doi: 10.1007/s40617-022-00757-x Bahry, S., Gerhardt, P.F., Weiss, M.J., Driscoll, N.M., Leaf, J.B., Ayres, K.M., & Cauchi, J. (2024). Improving outcomes for adults with ASD by targeting meaningful skill acquisition goals: A review of the literature and available assessments and curricula. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. doi: 10.1007/s40489-024-00441-6 Bahry, S., Gerhardt, P.F., Weiss, M.J., Leaf, J.B., & Ayres, K.M. (2024). Improving goals written for individuals with autism: Preliminary results on assessing meaningfulness and relevance to adulthood. Behavioral Interventions. doi: 10.1002/bin.2006 Ableism and the Medical Model of Diversity (TRAUMA-INFORMED) Shyman, E. (2016). The reinforcement of ableism: Normality, the medical model of disability, and humanism in applied behavior analysis and ASD. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 54, 366-376. doi: 10.1352/1934-9556-54.5.366 Kapp, S.K., Gillespie-Lynch, K., Sherman, L.E., & Hutman, T. (2013). Deficit, difference, or both? Autism and neurodiversity. Developmental Psychology, 49, 59-71. doi: 10.1037/a0028353 Graber, A. & Graber, J. (2023). Applied behavior analysis and the abolitionist neurodiversity critique: An ethical analysis. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 16, 921-937. doi: 10.1007/s40617-023-00780-6

5 Mar 19min

We’re pretty social people, and we love working with other professionals to support client outcomes. But we’ve also learned that collaboration goes way beyond five-minute consult sessions and a few friendly emails. This week we’re bringing the research and our professional practice together to make a delicious cake of transdisciplinary goodness focusing on the ethics of great collaboration. Because what’s a BCBA without friends? Bonus: See the whole episode with our slide deck as a video on our YouTube channel. It’s like our podcast but with lots of pictures! This episode is available for 1.0 ETHICS CEU. Articles discussed this episode: Bowman, K.S., Suarez, V.D., & Weiss, M.J. (2021). Standards for interprofessional collaboration In the treatment of individuals with autism. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 14, 1191-1208. doi: 10.1007/s40617-021-00560-0 Gasiewski, K., Weiss, M.J., Leaf, J.B., & Labowitz, J. (2021). Collaboration between behavior analysts and occupational therapists in autism service provision: Bridging the gap. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 14, 1209-1222. doi: 10.1007/s40617-021-00619-y LeBlanc, L.A., Onofrio, O.M., Valentino, A.L., & Sleeper, J.D. (2020). Promoting ethical discussions and decision making in a human service agency. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 13, 905-913. doi: 10.1007/s40617-020-00454-7 Brodhead, M.T. (2015). Maintaining professional relationships in an interdisciplinary setting: Strategies for navigating nonbehavioral treatment recommendations for individuals with autism. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 8, 70-28. doi: 10.1007/s40617-015-0042-7 If you're interested in ordering CEs for listening to this episode, click here to go to the store page. You'll need to enter your name, BCBA #, and the two episode secret code words to complete the purchase. Email us at abainsidetrack@gmail.com for further assistance.

26 Feb 1h 19min

As voted on by our patrons, a new (hopefully) long-running mini-series turning research directly into updated practice: Tutorial! This month, we’re looking at research to up your procedural integrity process. Just what should go into your PI checklists? How do you turn your observations into meaningful fidelity data instead of a series of “yeses” and “nos”? And just what good are training manuals, anyway? So, listen in! Your supervisees and clients will thank you. This episode is available for 1.0 LEARNING CEU. Remember, Patrons get access to the video version of this episode AND a free CEU for this episode. Not a patron? Join today! Articles discussed this episode: Bergmann, S., Harman, M.J., Brand, D., & Vladescu, J.C. (2024). A survey of procedural-fidelity data collection in behavior-analytic practice. Behavior Analysis in Practice. doi: 10.1007/s40617-024-00995-1 Morris, C., Jones, S.H., & Oliveira, J.P. (2024). A practitioner’s guide to measuring procedural fidelity. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 17, 643-655. doi: 10.1007/s40617-024-00910-8 Al-Nasser, T., Williams, W.L., & Feeney, B. (2019). A brief evaluation of a pictorially enhanced self-instruction packet on participant fidelity across multiple ABA procedures. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 12, 387-395. doi: 10.1007/s40617/018-00282-w If you're interested in ordering CEs for listening to this episode, click here to go to the store page. You'll need to enter your name, BCBA #, and the two episode secret code words to complete the purchase. Email us at abainsidetrack@gmail.com for further assistance.

19 Feb 1h 16min

UNLOCKED from our Patreon page, it’s the “Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Behavior Analysts” Book Club! Interested in more Book Clubs? Want to vote on what we read next? Feeling FOMO at getting this a full year late? Wish your 2 CEs for listening to the episode were FREE??? Join us on Patreon to get all of our episodes a week early, access to these bonus episodes, plus other goodies. While we've covered acceptance and commitment therapy a few times before, we'd never really dug too deeply into exactly HOW ACT is behavior analytic. As in the exact mechanisms by which the fabulous steps of the hexaflex "work" as described in 100% behavioral terms. Now, thanks to our listeners (and book authors Dixon, Hayes, and Belisle), we can! Join us as we learn about ACT from theory to practice in our two-hour discusion of "Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Behavior Analysts". Plus, you'll finally get to discover which branch of the hexaflex is our all-time favorite! Is it acceptance? Committed action? Self-as context? No, no one likes self-as context. This episode is available for 2.0 LEARNING CEUs. Content discussed in this episode: Dixon, M.R., Hayes, S.C., & Belisle, J. (2023). Acceptance and commitment therapy for behavior analysts: A practice guide from theory to treatment. Routledge. If you're interested in ordering CEs for listening to this episode, click here to go to the store page. You'll need to enter your name, BCBA #, and the two episode secret code words to complete the purchase. Email us at abainsidetrack@gmail.com for further assistance. Want these CEs for FREE? Just subscribe to our Patreon at the $10+ levels and go to the original post for a discount code.

12 Feb 1h 57min

If podcasts are a box of chocolates and behavior analysis is flowers, I guess that makes you our Valentine. We kick off the shortest of months with a check-in with the crew and a review of what’s coming out in time for President’s Day. First, after a year in the vault, our last year’s book club on ACT is unlocked and on the loose. Then the listener’s take the stage with their vote for an episode on procedural integrity. Finally, we try something different with a brand new recording of one of our previous conference talks on the ethics of collaboration. It’s like you were at the conference…but now it’s a podcast episode! Articles for February 2025 (UNLOCKED) Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Book Club Dixon, M.R., Hayes, S.C., & Belisle, J. (2023). Acceptance and commitment therapy for behavior analysts: A practice guide from theory to treatment. Routledge.   (LISTENER CHOICE) Tutorial - Procedural Integrity Bergmann, S., Harman, M.J., Brand, D., & Vladescu, J.C. (2024). A survey of procedural-fidelity data collection in behavior-analytic practice. Behavior Analysis in Practice. doi: 10.1007/s40617-024-00995-1 Morris, C., Jones, S.H., & Oliveira, J.P. (2024). A practitioner’s guide to measuring procedural fidelity. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 17, 643-655. doi: 10.1007/s40617-024-00910-8 Al-Nasser, T., Williams, W.L., & Feeney, B. (2019). A brief evaluation of a pictorially enhanced self-instruction packet on participant fidelity across multiple ABA procedures. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 12, 387-395. doi: 10.1007/s40617/018-00282-w   The Ethics of Collaboration Bowman, K.S., Suarez, V.D., & Weiss, M.J. (2021). Standards for interprofessional collaboration In the treatment of individuals with autism. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 14, 1191-1208. doi: 10.1007/s40617-021-00560-0 Gasiewski, K., Weiss, M.J., Leaf, J.B., & Labowitz, J. (2021). Collaboration between behavior analysts and occupational therapists in autism service provision: Bridging the gap. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 14, 1209-1222. doi: 10.1007/s40617-021-00619-y LeBlanc, L.A., Onofrio, O.M., Valentino, A.L., & Sleeper, J.D. (2020). Promoting ethical discussions and decision making in a human service agency. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 13, 905-913. doi: 10.1007/s40617-020-00454-7 Brodhead, M.T. (2015). Maintaining professional relationships in an interdisciplinary setting: Strategies for navigating nonbehavioral treatment recommendations for individuals with autism. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 8, 70-28. doi: 10.1007/s40617-015-0042-7

5 Feb 20min

Can you believe we made it all the way to episode 300? Well, we decided to cap off the event by revisiting a topic that was in the headlines way back when the three of us started in the field of behavior analysis…and sadly is STILL a topic of discussion: Vaccines and autism. And while the findings are in the title (they don’t), we review the research as to why there is still any discussion on the matter and reflect on whether approaching the anti-vaccine debate from a purely scientific findings lens might be playing into an ableist narrative that paradoxically feeds the misinformation discourse. Thanks to everyone for supporting our show for all these years (and special thanks to everyone who joined us at our live recording!). This episode is available for 1.0 LEARNING CEU. Articles discussed this episode: Ahearn, W.H. (2010). What every behavior analyst should know about the “MMR causes autism” hypothesis. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 3, 46-52. doi: 10.1007/BF03391757 Deer, B. (2011). How the case against the MMR vaccine was fixed. The BMJ, 342:c5347. doi: 10.1136/bmj.c5347 Taylor, L.E., Swerdfeger, A.L., & Eslick, G.D. (2014). Vaccines are not associated with autism: An evidence-based meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies. Vaccine, 32, 3623-2629. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2014.04.085 Alvik-Harju, C. (2024). Finding more constructive ways forward in the debate over vaccines with increased disability cultural competence. Med Humanit, 49, 9-16. doi: 10.1136/medhum-2021-012342 If you're interested in ordering CEs for listening to this episode, click here to go to the store page. You'll need to enter your name, BCBA #, and the two episode secret code words to complete the purchase. Email us at abainsidetrack@gmail.com for further assistance.

29 Jan 1h 14min

Despite living more solidly in the psychology domain, Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) as a treatment for oppositional behaviors is increasingly moving into the mainstream. But does its attempts to change behavior patterns make it behavior analytic or something else? In this episode we look at a few of the earliest studies to evaluate the efficacy of CPS as well as some of the more recent publications on CPS as a treatment for challenging behavior and to discuss just what it is and whether you should be paying attention. But will we answer the key question: Is studying CPS an avenue of collaboration between behavior analysis and psychology or a watered-down version of older behavioral treatments? This episode is available for 1.0 LEARNING CEU. Articles discussed this episode: Greene, R.W., Ablon, J.S., & Goring, J.C. (2003). A transactional model of oppositional behavior: Underpinnings of the Collaborative Problem Solving approach. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 55, 67-75. doi: 10.1016/S0022-3999(02)00585-8 Greene, R.W., Ablon. J.S., Goring, J.C., Raezer-Blakely, L., Markey, J., Monuteaux, M.C., Henin, A., Edwards, G., & Rabbit, S. (2004). Effectiveness of Collaborative Problem Solving in affectively dysregulated children with oppositional-defiant disorder: Initial findings. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 72, 1157-1164. doi: 10.1037/0022-006X.72.6.1157 Pollastri, A.R., Wang, L., Eddy, C.J., & Ablon, J.S. (2023). An open trial of Collaborative Problem Solving in a naturalistic outpatient setting. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 28, 512-524. doi: 10.1177/13591045221094387 Stoll, S.J., Hartman, J.D., Paxton, D., Wang, L., Ablon, J.S., Perry, B.D., & Pollastri, A.R. (2023). De-implemnting a point and level system in youth residential care without increased safety risk: A case study. Residential Treatment for Children and Youth. doi: 10.1080/0886571X.2023.2233408 If you're interested in ordering CEs for listening to this episode, click here to go to the store page. You'll need to enter your name, BCBA #, and the two episode secret code words to complete the purchase. Email us at abainsidetrack@gmail.com for further assistance.

22 Jan 1h 10min

VERSE Should old research articles be forgot, and never brought to ABA podcasts? Should old research articles be forgot, and auld bag syne? CHORUS For auld bag syne, my BCBAs, for auld bag syne, we’ll take a cup of dissemination yet, for auld bag syne.   This episode is available for 1.0 LEARNING CEU. Articles discussed this episode: Graham, S., Keenan, M., & Dillenburger, K. (2024). All for one and one for all: The good inclusion game. Behavioral Interventions. doi: 10.1002/bin.2048 Migan-Gandonou Horr, J. & Campos, C. (2024). Effects of a technology‐based self‐management intervention on social media use in a college student. Behavior Analysis in Practice. doi: 10.1007/s40617-024-00977-3 Schmidt, J., Krantz, J., King, H., Vetter, J., & Maruska, C. (2024). Using a brief experimental analysis for writing speed intervention identification. Behavioral Interventions, 39. doi: 10.1002/bin.2019 If you're interested in ordering CEs for listening to this episode, click here to go to the store page. You'll need to enter your name, BCBA #, and the two episode secret code words to complete the purchase. Email us at abainsidetrack@gmail.com for further assistance.

15 Jan 1h 3min