The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria

Explore the implementation of DRO procedures in clinical settings with Apollo Behavior team. Learn about the effectiveness of DRO, setting precise inter-response times, fading schedules, and coaching technicians. Highlight on client progress, research challenges, and the importance of critical thinking within the team.

Si no queda claro con el título, este episodio está lleno de temas que son algo esotéricos para la corriente dominante de practicantes de análisis de conducta. Sin embargo, la conversación con Valeria nos aterriza varias veces en la relevancia de la atención integrada para optimizar la colaboración e integración de esfuerzos por parte de profesionales de la salud y equipos multidisciplinarios; la necesidad de la educación proactiva de habilidades relacionadas a la sexualidad y las oportunidades para darles más y mejores apoyos a adultos con desafíos en el desarrollo. Una vez más los temas abundan pero espero que despierten curiosidad y finalmente los inspiren a recorrer caminos menos convencionales pero importantes como lo ha sido para la multifacética carrera de Valeria.

Frank Bird and Dr. Jill Harper join me, along with JABA Editor in Chief, Dr. John Borrero, in the 17th installment of Behavioral Observations' Inside JABA Series.  Both of our guests hail from Melmark. Jill is their Senior Director of Professional Development and Training, and Frank is the Executive Vice President of Clinical Services of this storied institution. As an aside, if you're not familiar with Melmark, we spend a few minutes talking about its history, mission, current services, and more. However, we spent the majority of this podcast discussing the paper Jill and Frank published with their colleagues that you can find in the Fall 2023 issue of JABA.  The paper is called, Teaching clinicians and nurses to prepare for and present at interdisciplinary meetings through behavioral skills training. If this sounds like a familiar topic, you're correct. We covered how to improve the and productivity of meetings in my first conversation with Dr. Florence DiGennaro-Reed almost two years ago.  While there's something Dilbert-esque about examining the precision and efficiency of meetings, like so many things we talk about on this podcast, my guests make the case as to why this is important in their context.  At the same time, reading this paper made me reflect on the various "processes" I have in place for a number of tasks that I have to do. I use quotes to underscore that fact that for so many of these activities, I don't have written procedures for, and probably should put some thought to this. Maybe you're in the same boat? Let me know either way by going to the newly revamped behavioralobservations.com and leaving a comment on the shownotes page for this episode.  While you're there, consider signing up for the email list. By doing so, you'll get episode show notes delivered straight to your inbox. Also, this episode, along with many, many others, is eligible for BACB Continuing Education. In fact, it's eligible for highly sought-after supervision CEUs, second only the the even-more-highly-sought-after ethics CEUs! To learn more, head to the CEUs page of the site. If you don't see this one right away, check back in a couple of days and it will be there.  Thank you so much for supporting the show with your Patreon membership!

Dr. Casey Dupart, a School Psychologist with experience in various roles across several states, discusses topics such as challenges faced by military families, multi-tiered systems of supports, social-emotional learning, school refusal, educational policy, evidence-based practices and programs in education, and holistic support for students. The chapter also touches on the importance of professional development for school psychologists, the implementation of social-emotional learning interventions, and advice for newly minted BCBAs.

Merrill Winston returns to the podcast for what seems to be the umpteenth time (and if you didn't catch the SNL reference we discussed, see here). In this episode, we discuss a presentation he recently gave that dove into the seminal Catania paper, The Myth of Self-Reinforcement. In this episode Merrill distinguishes between procedures and processes, why what we think of as self-reinforcement is likely more attributable to negative reinforcement, and the age-old problem of the term "non-contingent reinforcement." Merrill also spends a few minutes discussing the contributions of Dr. Henry "Hank" Pennypacker, what he intends to talk about at this year's Stone Soup Conference (shameless plug: save at checkout using promo code PODCAST), and rounds out the episode with some more constructive ways to think about self-management.  This was a fun episode, and if you enjoyed it, please consider sharing with friends and colleagues.  This podcast is brought to you by: The Stone Soup Conference, which is taking place on October 20th. Use code PODCAST to save on your registration as well. 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. 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.

Dr. Jim Moore and I get back together to talk about a few specific client outcomes that we thought would be helpful for the audience to learn about.  In this podcast, we talked about: The general profile of learners across the Apollo clinics. They pace at which learners make progress in their programs. Skinner's Attitudes of Science. Universal Behavioral Protocols. The Seven Steps to Instructional Control. Rapport Building and Instructional Fading Prior to Discrete Trial Instruction: Moving From Child-Led Play to Intensive Teaching (Shillingsburg, et al., 2018). How Apollo's unique training approach contributes to increasing staff flexibility. PEAK training curricula implementation. The Gulf Coast ABA Conference, where Jim is talking more about RFT outcomes. Who is heavier, James Hetfield or Dave Mustaine? What are the P.R.I.D.E. skills Jim talked about? Some stories about insurance authorizations (towards the end). Whether our children are interested in Behavior Analysis.  Jim closes the show by sharing that he has other cases he could discuss. Please let us know if you want more of these stories!

Rich Brooks returns to the podcast to talk about how he's grown as a business owner. And while he's in a different industry, there are tons of parallels to what we do in the world of Applied Behavior Analysis.  Rich has historically discussed all things digital marketing (see here and here), but this is a more personal story of how he had to step out of his role as a website designer and marketer in order to effectively lead and grow his business, Flyte New Media.  Also, I've finally taken my own advice and had his team tear down Behavioralobservations.com and rebuild it from the ground up. Yes, I finally had to invest in myself, just like Rich has done, and I couldn't be happier with the outcome! If you want to learn more about digital marketing, check out Rich's upcoming conference, The Agents of Change Digital Marketing Conference, which is going down in Portland, Maine on October 4th and 5th, and will be available virtually for those who aren't in striking distance of one of the coolest cities in the country. He also has a great podcast, which you can find at that site as well.  If you have questions for Rich about anything digital marketing, or even restaurant recommendations in the greater Portland area, hit him up on LinkedIn. 

Anika Costa and Paulie Gavoni discuss their book, Quick Wins, which applies behavior science to improve schools. They explore challenges faced by school leaders, leading and lagging indicators, relationships as accomplishments, their Quick Walk protocol, and providing corrective feedback. They also discuss their project, The Behavioral Toolbox, which offers courses for school-based professionals.

Dr. Francesca Degli Espinosa discusses joint attention and eye contact in autism. Topics include the definition and development of joint attention, neuroscience and eye tracking studies, strategies to foster joint attention, integrating research findings, and upcoming conferences.

Researchers analyze accuracy of autism content on TikTok, noting massive audience scope. Study categorizes videos, discusses reactions. Challenges in fact-checking, navigating platform biases. Healthcare professionals' influence on information sharing. Importance of critical evaluation, identifying red flags for misinformation. Promoting open communication, collaboration in behavior analysis field.