The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria

In Session 187, Steve Ward joins me to discuss how to help individuals - in particular, individuals with severely limited communicated repertoires - who demonstrate challenging repertoires that are colloquially referred to as Anxiety.  Given that tortured sentence, you can probably already imagine that in this episode, we discuss how Steve conceptualizes what exactly Anxiety is, especially in populations who cannot verbally report on their private verbal behavior. More importantly, we discuss how he developed what he calls the "calm counts" procedure, and review a case study of this intervention that he recently published.  Here are the resources we discussed in this podcast: Using Differential Reinforcement in the Presence of Stressors to Teach Self-Calming (Ward, 2022). Calm Counts data sheet. Video of the technique being implemented. Whole Child Consulting (Steve's website that has tons of resources).  Whole Child Consulting FB Page. Good Learner Repertoires FB Group. Task As Reinforcer paper. Pink Floyd reference. Top Shelf Sports Bar and Grille. Steve's first appearance on BOP, Session 111. Friman, Hayes, and Wilson (1998). Why Behavior Analysts Should Study Emotion: The example of anxiety.  This session is brought to you with support from: Behavior Development Solutions (aka “BDS”) is back to sponsor Behavioral Observations! I know BDS, because their modules were part of my own exam prep strategy when I took the BCBA exam back in 2002. Their modules are so thorough, you’ll feel confident at the Board Exam and, you’ll be well prepared for your career. It's the premier exam-prep and curriculum supplement for BCBA and BCaBA candidates with a 98.5% pass rate for first-time BCBA exam takers… plus a money-back guarantee! They also have solutions for RBT aspirants, plus CE courses and live webinars (most of which are free for anyone to attend). To learn more, head over to "bds.com forward-slash "B O P"  for a special offer!  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. Pick up some CEUs while you listen to Behavioral Observations! Click here to see the various ACE events on topics like Functional Assessment, Trauma-Informed Behavior Analysis, ACT, and much more!

In Session 186, I am joined by Chrissy Barosky, Clinical Director for Bierman Autism Centers. In this episode, we discussed how their organization adopted a Precision Teaching approach for their learners.  You heard that correctly, a large multi-state organization transitioned all of their data collection practices to the Standard Celeration Chart. So in this show, we dive into how Chrissy and her colleagues managed to pull this off, what they learned during the process, and the benefits they've seen from taking on such a large endeavor. We also discussed a paper that Chrissy and her colleagues published in Behavior Analysis in Practice titled, Increasing Trials Presented to Children With Autism: Using Frequency Building With Modeling and Feedback. This is a case study of how the authors taught behavioral technicians to improve the efficiency of their teaching using a frequency-building approach. Whether or not you care about the chart, I think this is an interesting episode because it speaks to a larger issue of organizational change. Chances are, if you're listing to this podcast, you're not using the chart. Imagine for a moment that your agency decided to adopt it? So in many respects, this episode presents an opportunity for a fun thought experiment about about changing clinical practices, and I hope you find the exercise helpful.  As a matter of housekeeping, I to apologize for some of the audio quality challenges issues we had during this episode, including my dogs barking for several minutes when my town decided to do some tree-trimming along my road. I don't think it detracts from the overall conversation, but wanted to make a note of this.  Here are links to some of the resources we mentioned: Bierman Autism Centers  Can precision teaching save the world?  Barosky, Keane, and Gallagher (2021). Increasing Trials Presented to Children With Autism: Using Frequency Building With Modeling and Feedback A slideshow where a 5 year old teaches a charting tutorial (translation: you can do it too!) Where you can purchase charts and learn more. The Standard Celeration Society FB group Links to several BOP shows on Precision Teaching Bulla et al (2021). Introduction to the Special Section: Precision Teaching: Discoveries and Applications Octave's Project Blue training for aspiring charters Rick Kubina's Precision Teaching books PrecisionX charting software Session 186 is brought to you with support from: 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. Behavior University. (who incidentally is sponsoring the Stone Soup Conference!) 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. 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.

In Session 185, AKA Inside JABA Series #11, I'm joined by Drs. Linda LeBlanc, Jeff Tiger, and Javier Virues-Ortega for a deep dive into automatically maintained behavior. This session was inspired by the study Javier and his colleagues published in the Spring 2022 issue of JABA (Virues-Ortega, Clayton, Perez-Bustamante, Gaerlan, and Fahmie, 2022).  In this episode, we discuss the nature of, and challenges with automatically-maintained problem behavior. And this is tackled from both conceptual and treatment angles. As I mention in the episode, I don't encounter these types of problem behaviors that frequently these days, so it was a treat to update my knowledge in this area.  It's easy to think of automatic reinforcement as a monolith, but as it turns out, even dividing it up between positive and negative reinforcement may not be sufficient enough to render effective treatment.  We spent probably the first 25-30 minutes discussing some of the known challenges associated with assessing and treating these repertoires, and then spend the remaining time discussing Javier and his colleagues' paper, which presented two very unique investigations.  If you work with individuals with these profiles, you'll want to listen all the way through, and better still, check out the paper itself.  Here are some of the studies we discussed: Functional analysis patterns of automatic reinforcement: A review and component analysis of treatment effects (Virues-Ortega et al., 2022) An analysis of the reinforcing properties of handmouthing (Goh et al., 1995) Delineating subtypes of Self Injurious Behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement (Hagopian, Rooker, and Zarcone, 2015). A retrospective analysis of stereotypy: Applicability of the behavioral subtyping model (Wunderlich, Hemstreet and Best, 2022; not discussed during this episode, but in the same issue of JABA, and on my list to read next).  Lastly, I'd be remiss if I did not take a minute to thank Linda LeBlanc for reaching out to me to start the Inside JABA series. As I tell her every chance I get, I consider it an honor to be involved with the flagship journal in our field. If someone told me as an undergraduate at the University of New Hampshire that I'd be regularly involved with JABA in some capacity, I wouldn't have believed them.  As some of you might know, Linda's term as Editor in Chief is expiring, but we are planning to continue the podcast series with incoming EIC, Dr. John Borrero. More info on this to come, but in the meantime, please enjoy this installment of the Inside JABA Series. 

I'm really excited to introduce a new special podcast series that I'm publishing with Dr. Jim Moore of Apollo Behavior. In this series, we're going to talk about a lot of practical topics that we hope will resonate with BCBA's of all experience levels. We have great plans to discuss topics like supervision, functional assessment, skill acquisition, and much more. Real world challenges that just about every practitioner faces. In this episode, we focused on a clinical problem solving model that Jim's been developing over the years. So if you're working with learners who are struggling to make progress, this is the show for you. We don't have a ton of links for this one, but here are some things that we referenced: Apollo Behavior's website The 7 Steps to Instructional Control The Founder (movie Jim references) Skinner's Attitudes of Science What does Mise en Place mean? Lastly, I should note that this series is brought to you ad-free by Apollo Behavior. If you're interested in what they do, and/or if you want to learn more about what Jim discussed, reach out to them either at info@apollobehavior.com or jim@apollobehavior.com.

I've seen posts on social media here and there about World Behavior Analysis Day, but honestly I did not know a whole lot about it. And this is why I was really excited to sit down and chat with WBAD President, Elizabeth Drago, for a deep dive.  It turns out that WBAD is more than a 'high five' amongst like minded behavioral scientists. In fact, the WBAD Alliance is doing a lot for dissemination, especially internationally. So as you might expect by now, we get into that and a whole lot more in this special episode of Behavioral Observations! In our chat, Elizabeth mentioned various resources, etc... and I hope I've captured all of them below:     The WBAD main website  The WBAD contact page for inquiries WBAD on YouTube  Ways to get involved  WBAD on Facebook and Instagram  Please note: Check out the 2022 Verbal Behavior Conference! Learn about the benefits of subscribing via Patreon! Grab some CEUs on the go... learn by listening to your favorite Behavior Analysts!

Dr. Kevin Luczynski joins me for a really fun conversation in Session 182 of The Behavioral Observations Podcast. If you're not familiar with Kevin, he is an Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the Director for the recently initiated Virtual Care Program at the Munroe Meyer Institute.  In this episode, we cover the following: How Kevin discovered Behavior Analysis. How Kevin endeared himself to his then co-worker, now wife, and previous BOP guest, Dr. Nicole Rodriguez. What inspired some of the early Preschool Life Skills studies. How universal protocols like Balance and PLS fit into PBIS.  The role of preference for contingent reinforcement, and, A brief primer on Joint Control... something I am not very familiar with, but am looking forward to learning more about, especially at Kevin's upcoming talks at the 2022 Verbal Behavior Conference.  Kevin also leaves us with four pieces of just outstanding advice. I've been pushing my guests lately to really think hard about answering this question lately, and Kevin does not disappoint. As such, you're going to want to listen through to the end.  For Patreon subscribers, we spend an additional 5-10 minutes talking about his interest in the role that ecological validity plays in applied research.  Here are some resources for what we discussed: Session 164 with Kelsey Ruppel. The folks at FTF! An Introduction to Joint Control. Lowenkron (2006). The maintenance of behavior change as an indicator of social validity. Kennedy (2002). Nearly all the other publications we discussed. Never split the difference, Chris Voss. How to have impossible conversations, Boghossian and Lindsay. Cruciallearning.com. This podcast is brought to you with support from: Institutional Tier Patron Greenspace Behavioral Technology. Greenspace behavior offers cutting edge supervisor coaching, performance and competency-based trainings, and organizational supports for new BCBA and trainees. Find out how you can optimize your supervision practices, improve clinical outcomes, and increase employee satisfaction at Greenspacebehavior.com. We are also brought to you by HRIC Recruiting. If you’re a new BCBA – or a BCBA of any experience level for that matter – and you need an independent person to advise you on today’s job market, go to HRIColorado.com to schedule a confidential appointment with Barbara Voss. Are you interested in getting CEUs on the go, all while listening to your favorite BOP episodes? Click here to learn more!

In Session 181, Dr. Francesca Degli Espinosa, Ph.D, BCBA-D, joins me for a wide-ranging conversation that in my opinion, got better and better as it went on! If you're not familiar with Francesca or her work, she is director and consultant at ABA Clinic Ltd., adjunct professor at the University of Salerno, and a guest lecturer at Queen's College, Belfast, and Pennsylvania State University. She is regarded as an expert in Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior, and will be one of the featured speakers at the 2022 Verbal Behavior Conference, which incidentally, is coming up right around the corner. We cover quite a lot in this interview, including why she pivoted away from studying medicine, her first response to reading Verbal Behavior, how she 'stalked' Vince Carbone at a conference, her paper, Teaching generalized question-discrimination skills to children with Autism: Conceptual and applied considerations, why clinicians at all levels should still do direct therapy, what she plans to discuss at this year's Verbal Behavior Conference, why we should seek to understand concepts and principles better rather than being overly technological in nature, and lots more! As always, we close the public feed with Francesca sharing some excellent advice for newly-minted BCBA's. And, for you, the Patreon subscriber, we spend another 15-minutes or so discussing dog training. In this subscriber-only segment, Francesca talks about why she finally got a dog (his name is Darwin), the ups and downs of training, and what she's learned from this experience.  Other resources mentioned in this podcast Schlinger (1995). A Behavior Analytic View of Child Development. Remington et al. (2007). Early intensive behavioral intervention: Outcomes for children with Autism and their parents after two years.  Michael, Palmer, and Sundberg (2011). The multiple control of verbal behavior. Horne and Lowe (1996). On the origins of naming and other symbolic behavior.  Miguel (2016). Common and Intraverbal Bidirectional Naming. Verbal Behavior Conference registration page.  Session 181 is brought to you with support from: 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. Tate Behavioral, a progressive ABA provider located in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts. If you’re a BCBA looking to work for a supportive and innovative team, and live in the heart of charming New England, visit their jobs page by clicking here! The Secret Agent Society Small Group Program helps kids 8 to 12 years old crack the code of emotions and friendships through an animated ‘secret agent’ theme.  With a sophisticated digital health platform now at the heart of the program, you can deliver groups face-to-face, with telehealth, or a combination of formats. Follow this link to book a live demo from anywhere around the world. Also, don’t forget to mention that “Matt sent you” to have your SAS Provider establishment fee waived (a minimum $500 USD value)! Last but not least, special thanks goes to this year's Verbal Behavior Conference! Click here to learn more and register.

This recording was a fun and way-overdue Patreon member hangout with the incomparable Dr. Merrill Winston. In this episode, we discussed how Greg Hanley influenced Merrill's departure from his previous employer, how he wanted to do more than be considered as the restrain and seclusion guru, his new enterprise, Winston Behavioral Solutions, when it's OK to break the rules, and much more.  As a matter of fact, we spent the most amount the hangout discussing what makes a good behavior plan (and conversely, why some of them stink!).  This session started out in an interview format, but we quickly transitioned to Q and A with the attendees, and what resulted was a genuinely enjoyable conversation amongst several experienced Behavior Analysts. And if you don't listen to anything else, you have to listen to the hilarious story that Merrill closes the hangout with. While I'd love it if you listened to the podcast in its entirety, you could be forgiven for skipping to the end to hear it.  Here are some links to things that came up in Session 180: Merrill's new company/website. Callahan et al. (2019). Behavioral Artistry: Examining the Relationship Between the Interpersonal Skills and Effective Practice Repertoires of Applied Behavior Analysis Practitioners. Before Rosa Parks, There Was Claudette Colvin. The Patreon Group! Merrill's first and second appearances on the show. Shoutout to Dr. Paulie Gavoni (grab his latest book here). Correlation between self-reported rigidity and rule-governed insensitivity to operant contingencies (Wulfert, Greenway, Farkas, Hayes, and Dougher, 1994). Who was Troy McClure? This podcast is brought to you by: The Secret Agent Society Small Group Program helps kids 8 to 12 years old crack the code of emotions and friendships through an animated ‘secret agent’ theme.  With a sophisticated digital health platform now at the heart of the program, you can deliver groups face-to-face, with telehealth, or a combination of formats. Follow this link to book a live demo from anywhere around the world. Also, don’t forget to mention that “Matt sent you” to have your SAS Provider establishment fee waived (a minimum $500 USD value)! The 2022 Verbal Behavior Conference! The 2022 event will be taking place both in-person and virtually over April 7th and 8th. If you can't make it to Austin, Texas, then head over to behaviorlive.com/vbc for info on how to tune in from afar. The conference itself will feature Vince Carbone, Francesca Degli Espinosa, Tamara Kasper, Pat McGreevy, Sarah Lechago, Kevin Luczynski, Kelle Rich, David Roth, Mark Sundberg, and Hank Schlinger. I will be there too to host the 2022 Panel Discussion, so again, if you’re interested in learning more, head on over to behaviorlive.com/vbc for more details. Institutional Tier Patron Greenspace Behavioral Technology. Greenspace behavior offers cutting edge supervisor coaching, performance and competency-based trainings, and organizational supports for new BCBA and trainees. Find out how you can optimize your supervision practices, improve clinical outcomes, and increase employee satisfaction at Greenspacebehavior.com. Yours Truly... If you're in need of BACB Continuing Education, get some credit for the shows you're already listening to, because the Behavioral Observations Podcast is an Approved Continuing Education provider. That's right, learn on-the-go with some of your favorite podcasts guests. Click here to learn about not only the variety of topics offered, but also the significant discounts for bulk purchases!

Dr. John Michael Guercio joins me again to discuss a topic that we briefly covered in his last appearance; Behavioral Relaxation Training. In this show, John does a deep dive into this work, drawing on the research of Drs. Roger Poppen, Duane Lundervold, and of course John himself.  Along with the aforementioned Drs. Poppen and Lundervold, John is the co-author of the third edition of the text, Behavioral Relaxation Training. He is also the author of Assessment of Adult Core Competencies: Teaching Skills to Adults with Autism and Severe Behavioral Challenges, which we discussed at length in his earlier appearance in Session 140.  We discuss how BRT was developed, its current applications, and the training required to do it. We also spent a good deal of time talking about becoming trained to implement BRT, scope of practice issues, and protecting client safety. So in case we were not clear in the discussion, if this is something you'd like to do, please seek out the appropriate training and supervision. For Patreon Subscribers, there is an additional 10 minutes or so where John tells a fun story about meeting his childhood football hero, and how said hero invited him to his house for wings and beer. How cool is that!?!? I hope Tom Brady hears this so I can have a similar experience in the next 10 or 15 years, lol.  Here are links to resourced mentioned in the show: The movie, Paper Tigers Stillness Speaks, by Eckhart Tolle NADD Accreditation Programs Why Behavior Analysts Should Study Emotion: the example of anxiety. (Friman, Hayes, and Wilson, 1998) John's ABAI bio sketch (with email contact link) This podcast is brought to you by: 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. Tate Behavioral, a progressive ABA provider located in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts. If you’re a BCBA looking to work for a supportive and innovative team, and live in the heart of charming New England, visit their jobs page by clicking here! The Secret Agent Society Small Group Program helps kids 8 to 12 years old crack the code of emotions and friendships through an animated ‘secret agent’ theme.  With a sophisticated digital health platform now at the heart of the program, you can deliver groups face-to-face, with telehealth, or a combination of formats. Follow this link to book a live demo from anywhere around the world. Also, don’t forget to mention that “Matt sent you” to have your SAS Provider establishment fee waived (a minimum $500 USD value)! The Whoop Strap! I've been wearing the Whoop Strap for over a year now, and I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed getting quantitative information on all aspects of my health, including sleep analytics, heart rate, along with heart rate variability, calorie burn, exercise intensity, and Whoop's proprietary "strain" score. I could extol this neat device's virtues indefinitely to you, but instead, you can go check it out for yourself. To get your first month free, head over to behavioralobservations.com/whoop! Also, feel free to join the Behavior Analysts who Whoop Facebook group!

In Session 178, we're going to hop in the time machine and take a trip back to April 2021. That's correct.  This episode of The Behavioral Observations Podcast comes from the recorded panel discussion at last year's Verbal Behavior Conference. The panel consisted of Drs. Pat McGreevy, April Kisamore, Nicole Rodriguez, Alice Shillingsburg, Hank Schlinger, and Vince Carbone. With regard to Vince's appearance on the panel, I'm told that he really never does them, so our hosts at the Central Texas Autism Center must have been incredibly persuasive to get him to participate! Here are just a few things we covered in this panel event: Prompts and prompt dependence Training, supervision, and burnout issues for direct service providers How to think about the concept of ‘behavioral artistry’ How the behavior of the client informs and influences the behavior of the therapist How to advocate teaching functional skills instead of academic ones How three BCBAs hired an OBM consultant to assess their practice Why some of the panelists feel teaching to the BACB task list is not good for the field One of the reasons I held back on publishing this until now is that the 2022 VBC is coming up soon, and I thought that this would be a great way to get folks adequately prepared for it.  The 2022 event will be taking place both in-person and virtually over April 7th and 8th. If you can't make it to Austin, Texas, then head over to behaviorlive.com/vbc for info on how to tune in from afar.  One of the unique things about the 2022 event is that Dr. Hank Schlinger will be teaching a four-part Verbal Behavior master class to get you prepared for the conference. These will occur in four, 2-hour sessions that will take place on February 16th, February 23rd, March 2nd, and March 9th.  The conference itself will feature Vince Carbone, Francesca Degli Espinosa, Tamara Kasper, Pat McGreevy, Sarah Lechago, Kevin Luczynski, Kelle Rich, David Roth, Mark Sundberg, and Hank Schlinger. I will be there too to host the 2022 Panel Discussion, so again, if you’re interested in learning more, head on over to behaviorlive.com/vbc for more details. This episode is brought to you by Tate Behavioral, a progressive ABA provider located in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts. If you’re a BCBA looking to work for a supportive and innovative team, and live in the heart of charming New England, visit tatebehavioral.com We are also brought to you by HRIC Recruiting. If you’re a new BCBA – or a BCBA of any experience level for that matter – and you need an independent person to advise you on today’s job market, go to HRIColorado.com to schedule a confidential appointment with Barbara Voss.