Tyra Sellers' presentation addresses a limitation that practitioners rarely discuss openly: reading the Ethics Code does not, by itself, produce ethical practitioners. The gap between knowing what the Code requires and actually applying that knowledge under the time pressure, emotional weight, and competing loyalties of daily clinical work is clinically meaningful.
Provider: BehaviorLive — via Women in Behavior Analysis
Take This Course →Including ethics, supervision, and topics like this one. New live CEU every Wednesday.
Join Free →Ethical decision-making is rarely straightforward, and a siloed, reactive approach to ethics can leave professionals unprepared for the complexity of real-world dilemmas. Ethical topics arise daily, often unnoticed, requiring a more intentional and proactive approach to strengthen our "ethical muscle." This presentation introduces a dynamic framework that mirrors how we experience ethics in daily life—navigating competing priorities, values, and risks to determine the best path forward. We do this through intentional daily practice—a structured yet flexible framework designed to help behavior analysts engage with ethics proactively, embracing the complexity inherent in real-life scenarios. Ethics doesn't happen in isolation; it happens in the "wild," where competing demands and unforeseen challenges require adaptability. Through guided exercises and discussion, attendees will practice recognizing risks and red flags, identifying antecedent strategies to mitigate challenges, and developing fluency in conversations on ethics topics. By embedding ethics into daily routines and supervision practices, behavior analysts can move beyond compliance to cultivate a robust, intentional ethical repertoire.
| Certification Body | Credits | Type |
|---|---|---|
| BACB® | 1 | Ethics |
| COA | 1 | — |
Tyra Sellers is the owner of TP Sellers, LLC consulting and Scholar-in-Residence at Pass the Big ABA Exam (PTB). She earned a B.A. in Philosophy and M.A. in Special Education from San Francisco State University, a J.D. from the University of San Francisco, a Ph.D. from Utah State University, and is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst®. Her professional and research interests focus on professional ethics, training and supervision, assessment and treatment of severe problem behavior, and variability. Dr. Sellers has over 30 years of clinical experience working with individuals with disabilities in a wide variety of settings. She has held positions as an Assistant Professor at Utah State University, Director of Ethics at the Behavior Analyst Certification Board®, and CEO of the Association of Professional Behavior Analysts(APBA). She carries out reviews for several joirnals, has published several journal articles, four co-authored book chapters, co-authored books focused on supervision and mentorship and applied ethics for behavior analysis, and a workbook pair for consulting and new supervisors. She's been a vegetarian for 40 years, she loves flowers, she thinks Twizzlers should be uninvented, and she hopes you know how amazing you are!
Dig into the research behind this topic — plain-English summaries written for BCBAs.
195 research articles with practitioner takeaways
167 research articles with practitioner takeaways
139 research articles with practitioner takeaways
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All behavior-analytic intervention is individualized. The information on this page is for educational purposes and does not constitute clinical advice. Treatment decisions should be informed by the best available published research, individualized assessment, and obtained with the informed consent of the client or their legal guardian. Behavior analysts are responsible for practicing within the boundaries of their competence and adhering to the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts.