As we discussed in the recent Inside JABA Series podcast, Applied Behavior Analysis has a long history of helping people improve their fitness, nutrition, and overall well-being.

In Session 127, Brandon May joins me to delve into this history a little further, while at the same time highlighting some of the amazing research he's conducted in this area (two quick examples of this include teaching college athletes to lift weights with more velocity, and creating a token economy to improve the health and well being of group home residents).

Whether you care about these topics or not, there are a lot of great lessons about applying ABA in non-ASD/DD areas, so I encourage you to listen to the episode in it's entirety, particularly as we go down some really interesting rabbit holes towards the end of the show.

Brandon received his BA in Psychology and Neuroscience from the University of Colorado and his Master's in Social Work and ABA from Saint Louis University. Right now, he's trying to finish up his dissertation in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, all while raising five kids, running his business, Elite ABA, as well as supporting other behavioral agencies and programs where he lives.

In our discussion, we talked about tons of articles, podcasts, and other resources. I've done my best to catalog them here:

Brandon's company, Elite ABA, (they're also on FB).
Washington University's Autism Clinical Center.
Great Circle's Autism Program.
Schenk and Miltenberger (2019). A Review of Behavioral Interventions to Enhance Sports Performance.
Luiselli and Reed (2011). Behavioral Sports Psychology.
Temple, et al. (2008). Overweight children find food more reinforcing and consume more energy than do non-overweight children.
Carr and Epstein (2020). Choice is Relative: Reinforcing Value of Food and Activity in Obesity Treatment.
May and Treadwell (2020). Increasing Exercise Intensity: Teaching High-Intensity Interval Training to Individuals with Developmental Disabilities Using a Lottery Reinforcement System.
Dixon et al., (2019). The Effects of Brief Mindfulness Training on Momentary Impulsivity.
The Whoop Strap.
Session 70 with Neil Deochand.
Session 64 with Jim Moore.
Session 65 with Matt Normand.
Session 47 and Session 105 with Nick Green.
The Controversial Exchange episode 26 (guest: Brett Yarris).
Thinking Basketball (podcast).

This podcast is sponsored by the following:

Shifting Our Mindset Spectrum

The Motivated Mind

Shift in Mindset

The AI-powered Podcast Player