Inside Behavior Analysis
Volume 3 | 2011 | Number 2 | Online ISSN: 2151-4704
Hawaii ABA
By Todd Addleson
As the community of behavior analysts in Hawaii continues to grow, HABA has continued to find new ways to connect this diverse group of professionals living across the Hawaiian island chain. A major accomplishment this year included the use of online meetings to hold frequent conference planning sessions with participants on several islands—our conference chair and president on Maui, president-elect on Kauai, and secretary on Oahu. Additionally, we were able to involve behavior analysts from Maui and the Big Island of Hawaii in quarterly meetings using online conferencing simultaneously with in-person gatherings.
We held a fantastic annual conference featuring Dr. Brandon Greene from Southern Illinois University. He spoke on several topics related to deprivation and creating an enriched environment. For the first year, we held the conference in a more professional hotel setting (in past years we have rented space from churches or schools). Based on input from members, we elected for a catered event to encourage people to connect and network. Both the content and overall organization of the conference was well-received by the audience, which included parents, teachers, and behavior analysts. We were also very pleased to be able to offer six type 2 continuing education units (CEUs) to all HABA members free-of-charge. We also offered the first hour of the workshop to parents for free (non-CEU topic) as we felt it was a valuable topic and service we could provide.
This year we began an initiative to reach out to others in the community who might be interested in learning more about behavior analysis and our organization. A key meeting in this regard was held with Dr. Jenny Wells, the chair of the University of Hawaii's master's program in special education with a focus on autism. We discussed the possibility of addressing students about the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA) and possibly assisting in teaching a class or specific topics related to ABA. We also met with a parent and volunteer for Autism Speaks to better understand efforts that have been previously made regarding insurance reform in the state of Hawaii. While nothing has been successfully passed, this did broaden our knowledge of issues specific to the Hawaii legislature and we hope to follow and, when appropriate, be involved in current efforts related to this topic (a new proposal was recently submitted).
Finally, after several failed attempts at establishing nonprofit status, this year under the direction of our president-elect, we have made a major push to meet this goal. While not yet finalized, necessary paperwork has been completed and submitted with the assistance of an attorney to help ensure we don't make similar mistakes that have derailed this process in the past.
We are excited to have filled all necessary positions on our board for the coming year, with several new faces jumping in to support HABA's efforts. This includes a new newsletter editor, secretary, and president-elect. We look forward to finding new avenues for strengthening the community of behavior analysts in Hawaii and reaching out to the community we serve.