Facilitating Greater Understanding of Trauma-Informed Care in Applied Behavior Analysis: An Introduction to the Special Issue
Trauma-informed care belongs in ABA, but we still need clear, trainable procedures.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Austin et al. (2024) wrote the opening article for a special issue on trauma-informed care.
They did not run a new experiment. Instead they mapped how trauma-aware practices fit with ABA ethics.
The paper sets the stage for the other articles in the same issue.
What they found
The authors found that trauma-informed care lines up with our ethical code.
They also found a big gap: almost no studies show how to do trauma-informed ABA step-by-step.
The special issue is framed as the first batch of examples to fill that gap.
How this fits with other research
Dall et al. (1997) asked for engineering-style rules to move research into practice. Austin et al. (2024) echoes that call but swaps the topic from tech-transfer to trauma standards.
Taylor et al. (1993) showed six therapist roles that help parents learn. Austin et al. (2024) argues we now need similar role maps for trauma-sensitive work.
Fuqua (2025) tells how Pennypacker built a trainable breast-self-exam skill. Austin et al. (2024) points to that story as the model for building trauma-informed skills next.
Sasson et al. (2022) links thwarted belonging to worse PTSD in firefighters. Austin et al. (2024) uses findings like this to justify why ABA must screen for trauma history and social pain.
Why it matters
You can start small. Add one trauma-sensitive question to your intake form this week. Ask, "Has anything scary or painful happened that might affect how you learn?" That single step aligns your practice with both the ethics code and the direction this field is heading.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Trauma-informed care (TIC) refers to the guiding principles that inform how organizations or individuals arrange services with respect to acknowledging both the prevalence and impact of trauma. Given the elevated risks of trauma in the populations with which many behavior analysts work, clarifying why, how, and if TIC should be incorporated into behavior analytic work seems prudent. Although the core commitments of TIC are inherently aligned with ethical and effective applied behavior analytic practice, there are few exemplars of how TIC can be intentionally incorporated into behavioral assessment and treatment. This special issue is intended to begin to fill that gap, as well as to promote further discussion of the benefits and limitations of TIC in ABA. In this introduction, we review both the prevalence and potential outcomes of trauma, as well as attempting to dispel misconceptions about TIC that appear common among the behavior analytic community. We highlight how the articles in the special issue are important in developing an evidence base for TIC in ABA, as well as suggesting areas for future research.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2024 · doi:10.1007/s40617-024-00988-0