Inside Behavior Analysis
Volume 1 | 2009 | Number 1
Sex Therapy and Educational Programming
By Bobby Newman
The Sex Therapy and Educational Programming Special Interest Group of ABA was formed to help disseminate empirically-verified information regarding sex education and sex therapy. Members are professionals, teachers, direct service providers, parents, and consumers who are concerned with issues of sex therapy and sex education.
The SIG was founded in 2007 and has been providing an annual symposium at ABA since its inception date. Past topics have included sex education for students with developmental disabilities, as well as scientific descriptions of basic processes in the formation of sexual behavior.
At the 2009 ABA conference, the various facets of SIG interests were demonstrated through the symposium. The creation of behavioral repertoires in the area of paraphilia was discussed and a behavioral model presented to aid in the understanding of the development of such repertoires. This paper was followed by a description of internet material describing BDSM activities, and this was followed by the presentation of data describing a treatment package to address socially inappropriate self-touching and the illegal touching of others on the part of some teenagers diagnosed with autism.
As we now move into our third year of existence, we are looking to expand SIG activities. Our goal is to have our annual newsletter appear twice during the year and to hold two symposia at the 2010 ABA conference. It is also our goal to have a symposium from our ABA SIG present its data at the annual conventions of professional organizations specifically concerned with sex education and therapy. The SIG has an active yahoo group, URL http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stepsigaba/ All who are interested in participating are welcome to log in and join.