Hey there behaviorists!

Welcome to another week of the Behaviorist Book Club Podcast! This week is a fun one, if I do say so myself. This is the first week we are venturing outside of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, and the first episode of One Less Lonely Practitioner, which is a new series I am starting. Listen Monday to learn more!

Monday 

Welcome to the first of a new series, One Less Lonely Practitioner. This series came to me as I pondered how alone I felt during my first few months as a BCBA. I had supportive coworkers and boss, but something was missing. I felt that I could not admit the struggles that I was experiencing as a BCBA, for fear that nobody else was experiencing them. For example, my first few months, I never took a lunch, simply hurrying from client to parent meeting to client, never sitting down long enough to catch my breath. I kept quiet, but little did I know my other coworkers were feeling the same stress that I was. This series I hope, will prove to lessen that stigma of suffering alone, and let us build upon each other's wisdom and become better analysts as a result!

To kick off this series, I had the privilege of talking to Dr. Clelia Sigaud. She is a special educator, school psychologist, educator in a verified course sequence, and has extensive experience in severe problem behavior. We chat about her experience in the school system, and as a VCS educator. She also helps run the site, www.learningbehavioranalysis.com. She and her colleague run biweekly task list study groups, which can be found on her Facebook page, Learning Behavior Analysis .com | Facebook

Wednesday

Wednesday brings us the first of our Behavior Analysis in Practice Articles,  one on feeding interventions over telehealth. I chose this article not because of the feeding topic, but rather because of the focus on parent run interventions and telehealth as a service delivery mode. In addition, I must admit that the changing criterion design had me quite interested from the start. These authors take a demand faded approach to behavioral feeding and attempt to increase bites and consumptions without the usage of escape extinction and in a social valid way. They were able to find success, albeit slow success. While this is not a perfect article and research project, I think the information is valuable to any clinician, and expands the conversation around ethical and humane approaches to ABA.

Citation + DOI:

Bloomfield, B. S., Fischer, A. J., Dove, M. Clark, R. R., & Fife, M. (2021). Parent Teleconsultation to Increase Bites Consumed: A Demonstration Across Foods for a Child With ARFID and ASD. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 14(4), 913–926. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-021-00586-4

Friday

To close out the week, we will be covering a new article that was published by Ruppel and colleagues. This article is out of Western New England and seems to be out of Dr. Hanley's lab. This article reports on the Balance program, a preventative behavior analytic curriculum for children with emerging problematic behavior. Loosely based on the Preschool Life Skills Program, Balance focuses more on child and adult interactions and the utilization of synthesized contingencies. These authors reported on the preliminary results of the Balance program and identified areas for future research and modification. Overall, this article was a great demonstration of a potential preventative way of programming and general early intervention skills. 

Citation + DOI

Ruppel, K. W., Hanley, G. P., Landa, R. K., & Rajaraman, D. (2021) An Evaluation of “Balance”: a Home-Based, Parent-Implemented Program Addressing Emerging Problem Behavior. Behavior Analysis in Practice 14(4), 324–341. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-020-00490-3