Inside Behavior Analysis
Volume 1 | 2009 | Number 1
Manitoba ABA
By Kirsten Wirth
The Manitoba Association for Behaviour Analysis (MABA) is in its 4th official year of affiliate status with ABAI. Over the past year we have met several goals - we provided two outstanding newsletters to our membership and to individuals outside our field, and were able to use it to recruit new members. Our newsletters now include information that are useful for expert and novice behaviour analysts. We presented a poster at the ABAI conference in Chicago, held a conference with Drs. Linda Parrott-Hayes and Maurice Feldman as our guest speakers, and held booths at several conferences in Manitoba. As our organization is growing we developed several committees to increase our effectiveness. The committee areas are comprised of: Public Relations, Newsletter, Conference, Membership, and Grants. Our 2009 goals are to strengthen what we have built over the last four years and expand on that. Specifically we would like to actively work towards achieving our mission of promoting behaviour analysis in our province through each committee. We have a very strong behaviour analytic membership base, and we would like to increase our membership to include further members outside of our area. We are working towards making our website a resource for individuals looking for information about behaviour analysis in Manitoba and in general, as well as what to watch for in regards to pseudoscience and other treatments in the media. Planning is underway for our 4th annual conference in October 24th, and we look forward to this year's guest speaker, Dr. Jennifer McComas, and our invited speaker, Dr. John Rapp. We are aiding the growth of behaviour analysis in Manitoba by providing advocacy support to the University of Manitoba's ABA faculty for increasing academic positions in the area. Our PR committee has also provided letters in response to organizations or articles that correct misinformation or misconceptions about behaviour analysis. MABA would also like to support the BACB and ABAIs practice initiative by making it possible to certify as many qualified behaviour analysts in Manitoba as possible. As we all know, behaviour analysis as a field has demonstrated solid procedures for changing countless behaviours over numerous years of research.
Unfortunately, those who appreciate that the most are behaviour analysts. All too often other approaches claim effectiveness with little to no empirical support. The unfortunate outcome is that the general public tends to accept these dramatic claims that have no evidence, while rejecting ours, often the only approach that is based on good science. The success of system-wide application of behaviour analysis is going to rest largely on translational research, good education, and effective marketing, which is currently lacking. Local affiliate ABAI Chapters have an obligation to reach their public and teach society. The Manitoba Association for Behaviour Analysis is still young, but we are committed to working towards dissemination to society in our province. We have often thought to focus on ways to disseminate to the general public, but there are also oppertunities in our own academic backyard. Within our own discipline of psychology it is still necessary to disseminate that behaviour analysis is a confirmed science - not theory - and that we can produce behaviour change across species and groups. We need to work with governments to provide better services to the public, and with education systems to enhance learning tools for our children. Through this kind of translational work we can make real change.