25: Jim Carr on the State of the Practice

I’m going to be honest with you here. This interview could have gone on for over two hours. To summarize, Jim Carr and I had a super fun conversation about the current state of the behavior analysis profession, what it was like when generation X-ers like us came into the field, what worries him about how the field is developing, and conversely, what areas of development is he most excited about. If you’re interested in a past, present, and future perspective on the practice of Applied Behavior Analysis, this is the show for you. We also unexpectedly touch on some other topics such as the behavioral treatment of tic disorders and the “green book” from back-in-the-day that listed the then-severely limited graduate programs in behavior analysis (and if anyone has this book, please, at the very least, email me a picture of it!). Jim also goes over his professional journey in some detail, but here is the official bio that I’ve taken directly from the BACB website: Dr. Jim Carr is the Chief Executive Officer of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. His professional interests include behavior analyst credentialing, behavioral assessment and treatment of developmental disabilities, verbal behavior, and practitioner training. Dr. Carr has published over 150 journal articles and book chapters on these and other topics. Dr. Carr is a Fellow of the Association for Behavior Analysis International. He is the editor-in-chief of the journal The Analysis of Verbal Behavior and has served on the editorial boards of 10 other behavior analysis journals, including 4 appointments as associate editor. Dr. Carr is the president of the Colorado Association for Behavior Analysis and past president of the Mid-American and Alabama Associations for Behavior Analysis. He received his doctorate in 1996 from Florida State University under the mentorship of Dr. Jon Bailey and previously served on the behavior analysis faculties at University of Nevada-Reno (1996-1999), Western Michigan University (1999-2008), and Auburn University (2008-2011). On a housekeeping note, the podcast is now available on Google Play, so if you are an Android user and don’t want to download 3rd party apps like Stitcher Radio, click here, and you’ll be good to go.