By Matt Harrington, BCBA · Behaviorist Book Club · Research-backed answers for behavior analysts
The Speech Pathology Applied Behavior Analysis Special Interest Group (SPABA SIG) is an affiliate of the Association for Behavior Analysis International dedicated to advancing collaborative research and practice between behavior analysts and speech-language pathologists. Its core mission is to build the shared evidence base for behavior-analytic approaches to communication disorders and to create professional structures — including the annual awards program — that reinforce research and clinical collaboration across disciplinary lines.
The MN Hegde award recognizes empirical research advancing the behavior-analytic conceptualization of speech, language, communication, and feeding disorders. It is named for M.N. Hegde, a researcher whose work explicitly integrated behavioral and linguistic frameworks for analyzing communication disorders. The naming honors a tradition of scholarship that refuses to treat disciplinary boundaries as clinical constraints, encouraging recipients to conduct research that contributes simultaneously to the SLP and ABA evidence bases.
BACB Ethics Code 2.0 Section 2.09 requires behavior analysts to coordinate with other professionals serving the same client and to maintain respectful interdisciplinary communication. Section 2.10 requires referral to other professionals when client needs exceed the scope of behavior analytic practice — which includes communication concerns involving phonological disorders, motor speech planning, or structural language deficits that require SLP expertise. Section 2.01 requires reliance on current scientific evidence, and the SLP-ABA shared evidence base is increasingly part of that literature.
Behavior analysts can conduct functional assessment of verbal behavior, implement mand training, design and run verbal behavior programs, and collect data on communication behavior change. Speech-language pathologists are responsible for diagnosing communication disorders, conducting formal language sampling and analysis, evaluating feeding and swallowing, selecting and programming AAC devices, and addressing phonological and motor speech concerns. In practice, the highest-quality communication treatment involves both disciplines working from integrated assessments toward coordinated goals.
The most widely used behavior-analytic communication assessments are the Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills - Revised (ABLLS-R) and the Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP). Both characterize verbal repertoire in terms of Skinner's verbal operant categories — mand, tact, intraverbal, echoic — and produce profiles that guide treatment planning. These tools assess functional communication dimensions that complement, rather than replace, the structural language assessments conducted by SLPs.
BCBAs should refer for SLP evaluation when a client shows limited consonant production relative to developmental expectations, significant discrepancy between receptive and expressive language, feeding refusals with potential sensory or motor components, failure to generalize verbal behavior across multiple communicative partners, or a communication profile that suggests structural language concerns beyond behavioral intervention. When in doubt, referral is the appropriate action — SLP evaluation does not preclude continued behavioral services, and the information gained improves treatment planning.
Single-subject experimental designs — particularly multiple baseline designs across participants, behaviors, or settings — are well-suited to SLP-ABA collaborative research because they provide experimental control with small sample sizes and align with ABA's methodological tradition. These designs can evaluate the effects of interventions on communication outcomes in ways that are clinically meaningful and publishable in behavior-analytic journals. Group designs may be incorporated when sample sizes permit, broadening the audience for collaborative findings. Pre-registration of design and outcome measures strengthens the scientific credibility of collaborative work.
Student awards create behavioral consequences for pursuing research questions at disciplinary intersections that might otherwise lack clear reward pathways. Students who conduct SLP-ABA collaborative research may face uncertainty about where to publish, which professional conferences to present at, and which faculty mentors will value their work. Awards from organizations like SPABA signal that this work is professionally valued, providing positive reinforcement for the graduate-level research behavior the field needs more of. Award-winning research also increases dissemination, amplifying the impact of individual studies.
BCBAs can build relevant SLP knowledge through several mechanisms: requesting case consultation with SLPs on shared clients rather than only coordinating via written reports, attending SLP-focused conference sessions at ABAI or regional behavior analysis conferences, reading collaborative research published in journals that bridge both fields, and taking continuing education courses developed by SLPs specifically for behavior analyst audiences. This cross-training does not confer SLP scope of practice but produces more informed collaboration and more appropriate referral decisions.
The behavioral conceptualization analyzes communication in terms of the functional relationship between antecedent stimuli, the communicative response, and its consequences — examining what motivates communication, what conditions evoke it, and what maintains it through reinforcement. This differs from medical model approaches that emphasize structural deficits, diagnosis categories, and normative developmental benchmarks. The behavioral approach does not require a diagnostic label to intervene; it requires a functional assessment. Both frameworks have clinical utility, and the strongest communication treatments integrate functional behavioral analysis with understanding of structural communication development.
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ on-demand CEUs including ethics, supervision, and clinical topics like this one. Plus a new live CEU every Wednesday.
Ready to go deeper? This course covers this topic with structured learning objectives and CEU credit.
2025 SPABA Annual Awards Presentation — Deirdre Muldoon · 0 BACB General CEUs · $0
Take This Course →BACB General CEUs · $0 · BehaviorLive
Research-backed educational guide with practice recommendations
Side-by-side comparison with clinical decision framework
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.