Inside Behavior Analysis
Volume 1 | 2009 | Number 1
Icelandic ABA (ICEABA)
by Kristin Gudmundsdottir
This year, 2009, the Icelandic Association for Behavior Analysis (ICEABA) celebrates its 5th year anniversary. ICEABA was founded on August 15, 2004 with the mission of being a forum for people interested in the growth and development of behavior analysis in Iceland and to disseminate and promote behavior analysis as a tool for enhancing quality of life and well-being. A new board of ICEABA was elected last spring with Kristín Guðmundsdóttir, MS, BCBA as president; Thórhalla Guðmundsdóttir special education consultant as treasurer; and Atli F. Magnússon, MS, BCBA as secretary. ICEABA currently has approximately 30 members and includes a diverse community of students, teachers and professors, social facilitators, psychologists, parents, and behavior analysts. Some of these members are located outside of Iceland, studying and working in USA and Norway.
The backbone of the association for the past five years, is the e-mail discussion board ÍSABAR, where ICEABA members and others interested in behavior analysis, engage in lively discussion about behavior analytic issues. ÍSABAR also celebrates a 10 year anniversary this year on October 12 and has, since its foundation, generated over 5000 posts. This year, ICEABA has been working on extending the discussion board to a web community with a wider function. In this community ICEABA members will be able to work on team projects by sharing documents and communicating through chat and e-mail. ICEABA is also updating its public Web site, www.atferli.is where members will also be able to log on to the ICEABA Web community.
ICEABA members have met regularly this winter discussing Icelandic research in behavior analysis as well as ethical and scientific issues regarding early intervention for children with autism. Much discussion was among ICEABA members regarding these issues in connection with an Icelandic documentary on autism intervention that premiered in Icelandic movie theaters last January. In December we also had a refreshing meeting with a couple of Icelandic students in behavior analysis, currently studying at Akershus University College in Norway and Northeastern University/NECC in Boston.
A glossary of behavior analytic terms in Icelandic is almost complete. A group of ICEABA members, under the leadership of Guðríður
Adda Ragnarsdóttir, has continued working on translations of behavior analytic terms. This work is extremely important for the dissemination of behavior analysis in Iceland. The glossary will be published on the ICEABA Web site later this year, in cooperation with Iceland’s leading on-line dictionary, www.snara.is. The glossary will also be published in the on-line dictionary of the Icelandic Language Institute. The same group has organized a symposium at the ABAI 5th International Conference in Oslo this year: Translating Behavioral Terminology: Accomplishments and Challenges, with Dr. Mickey Keenan as chair and Dr. Phil Chase as discussant. The Icelandic translations project will be presented along with similar projects from Italy and Poland.
An Icelandic on-line journal in behavior analysis, Atferli, is also being prepared this winter with Jón Grétar Sigurjónsson, a doctoral student at NUI Galway, as editor. Currently, the first articles are being reviewed and prepared. The journal will be published on the ICEABA Web site later this year.
Finally, in May we presented our poster on ICEABA at the ABAI Expo in Phoenix, informing our friends about behavior analysis in Iceland. Kristín and Atli also represented ICEABA at the ABAI leadership training workshop.
Next year, 2009-2010, we will continue working on building a strong chapter in Iceland by continuing current activities. Furthermore, the first convention of ICEABA will be held this fall in Reykjavík on November 20, 2009, with a focus on current issues in behavior analytic research and practice in Iceland. All convention activities will be free of charge to ICEABA members and we will use the same opportunity to celebrate the five year anniversary. Next year we also plan to start working on mediating reliable information about behavior analysis and evidence-based behavior interventions to the public, parents, professionals, institutions, and government agencies in Iceland serving children and adults.