Precision teaching: Discoveries and effects.

Lindsley (1992) wrote a how-to paper. It lists 15 behavioral steps for ABA folks who want to speak in public. The steps cover picking a topic, shaping your own speech, and getting applause.

The paper is a road map, not an experiment. No data, no graphs. Just a call to action.

The author found that most BCBAs stay quiet. He says we can change that by treating public speaking like any other behavior. Break it into small parts, practice, and reinforce each win.

The 15 steps are the task analysis. Follow them and you can teach the world what ABA is.

Pawlik et al. (2020) and Perrin et al. (2021) took the call seriously. Both teams used brief habit reversal to cut speech disfluencies in college students. Their data show the 1992 advice works if you add a quick pause-and-breathe drill.

Williams (1996) extends the same spirit into classrooms. He argues that rate-building charts, the heart of precision teaching, lock in skills better than accuracy alone. Together the three papers form a chain: learn to speak, learn to teach, learn to measure.

Scibak (2025) updates the mission. Instead of better speeches, he targets better laws. He tells BCBAs to shape voting behavior the same way we shape any operant. Same science, bigger stage.

If you run staff trainings, parent nights, or IEP meetings, you are already a public speaker. Pick one step from the list—maybe ‘script your first 30 seconds’—and practice it this week. Your fluency will climb, and so will the field’s visibility.