Behavior Skills Training is the gold standard of staff training in applied behavior analysis, and for good reason — its four-component structure reliably produces faster skill acquisition and better fidelity than instruction-only approaches. But BST, when used as the sole training strategy regardless of context, has limitations that become apparent when ABA organizations try to scale.
Provider: BehaviorLive — via Motivity
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Join Free →ABA supervisors are tasked with developing competent, confident staff, yet many rely solely on Behavior Skills Training (BST) without access to the broader science of instructional design. As a result, training efforts often fail to produce long-term staff fluency, satisfaction, or consistent client outcomes. This gap in training design is a systemic issue rooted in the limited exposure behavior analysts receive to instructional design, organizational behavior management (OBM), and human performance technology (HPT) during their formal education. This session offers a new strategy for training in ABA supervision by integrating BST with research from the field of instructional design, including Gagné's Nine Events of Instruction and transfer of training principles, with established OBM and HPT practices. Through a narrative case study, participants will learn how to move beyond procedure-level training to create full learning systems that support generalization, fluency, and job satisfaction. BCBAs will leave with practical tools to design training that enhances client progress, builds a more competent workforce, and strengthens supervision outcomes across their organization.
| Certification Body | Credits | Type |
|---|---|---|
| BACB® | 1.5 | Supervision |
| COA | 0 | — |
Shannon Biagi, MS, BCBA, is a professor and academic administrator at the University of West Florida's Center for Behavior Analysis and a doctoral student in Instructional and Performance Technology. With over a decade of experience in Organizational Behavior Management (OBM), she specializes in data-driven strategies to improve employee engagement, leadership development, and organizational systems. She is the founder and CEO of Chief Motivating Officers, LLC, where she partners with organizations to assess employee experience, conduct systems analyses, and implement sustainable performance solutions grounded in applied behavior analysis. Shannon has received multiple national awards for applied OBM and performance improvement interventions and is a frequent invited speaker at international ABA and OBM conferences. Shannon’s ongoing mission is to improve the world at work by amplifying employee voices, building ethical and inclusive workplaces, and translating behavioral science into meaningful organizational change.
Dig into the research behind this topic — plain-English summaries written for BCBAs.
279 research articles with practitioner takeaways
258 research articles with practitioner takeaways
239 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.