Building a Social Justice Framework for Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in ABA
Bake justice into every step—assess culture, teach in the home language, and coach families to speak up.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Deochand et al. (2022) wrote a position paper. They asked: how can social justice guide ABA for culturally and linguistically diverse families?
The authors mapped justice ideas onto every step of service. Intake, assessment, goal setting, teaching, and discharge.
What they found
They found no single checklist works. Instead, you weave three threads into daily work.
Thread one: use culturally informed assessments. Thread two: pick linguistically relevant interventions. Thread three: train families to advocate for themselves.
How this fits with other research
Hugh-Pennie et al. (2022) echo the call. They show how to embed culture inside school-based ABA tactics like BST.
Allen et al. (2024) extend the lens to neurodiversity. They add identity-first language and ongoing assent, updating the justice frame for Autistic clients.
Ćolić et al. (2025) apply the same equity idea to immigrant families. They adapt Epstein’s six-part collaboration model for IEP meetings.
Vollmer et al. (2025) overlap on social validity. They urge BCBAs to audit stakeholder voice continuously, not just at intake.
Why it matters
You can start Monday. Ask caregivers which language feels safest for goals. Swap one teaching material for a culturally familiar item. Add a family advocacy objective to the behavior plan. These micro-moves add up to macro-justice.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
ABA may be uniquely positioned to have broader impacts with culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) client populations, not only due to its growth and increased social acceptability, but also because a segment of the field practices within the education system. Decades of misinformation have potentially reduced the widespread reliance on learning pedagogies derived from behavior analytic research. Disseminating ABA technologies depends on an advocacy-based approach to close gaps from research-to-practice. Social justice is both an approach and a framework that can be integrated into our strategic planning for the field. This article describes how to apply social justice guidelines when working with CLD students and families. There are culturally relevant considerations that can be included in our research, training, and service delivery, in particular if we want the field to grow in a sustainable fashion. Behavior analysts must consider it an ongoing long-term objective to engage in culturally informed assessment, culturally and linguistically relevant intervention, culturally focused advocacy and collaboration with families, and use self-assessment of their cultural competence.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2022 · doi:10.1007/s40617-021-00659-4