Inside Behavior Analysis
Volume 3 | 2011 | Number 2 | Online ISSN: 2151-4704
Manitoba ABA
By Kerri L. Walters and Kirsten M. Wirth
The Manitoba Association for Behaviour Analysis (MABA) is in its sixth official year of affiliate status with ABAI. During our fifth year, we accomplished a number of goals including increasing awareness of our organization on local, provincial, and national levels; increasing membership numbers; and hosting a highly successful fifth annual conference.
Our Newsletter Committee published two newsletters during 2010 (in July and December). Some highlights from those newsletters include a research address from Mark Leonhart and Dr. Bill Leonhart entitled, "Behavior Analysis Information on the Internet: What Might People Want to Know?" and an interview with Dr. David Wacker (professor of pediatrics at the University of Iowa). Other highlights include the following articles: "A Comprehensive Review of Applied Behaviour Analysis in the Classroom," a manuscript prepared for submission by Carly Thiessen (University of Manitoba, St. Amant Research Centre, and St. Amant ABA Program) and Dr. Kirsten Wirth (St. Amant ABA Program); "A Review of the Literature on Toilet Training" by Cheryl Zoledowski (St. Amant ABA Program and St. Cloud State University); and "A Tradition of Knowledge Translation" by Dr. Toby Martin (St. Amant Research Centre).
They also included a section on our featured behaviour analyst, Dr. Larry Hardy (executive director for the Community Living Program in Manitoba). Since 2009, our newsletter has been distributed electronically to our members with paper copies only being provided to MABA donors and newsletter contributors. For the upcoming 2011 year, the Newsletter Committee will generate two newsletters (May and December) and is exploring an online newsletter posting option which would extend our objectives for "going green."
MABA was successful in collaborating with the University of Manitoba's Psychology Department to host Dr. David Wacker as an invited speaker for the department's colloquium series. In 2011, we plan to collaborate with the University of Manitoba and the St. Amant Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) Program by hosting events with Dr. Brian Iwata (University of Florida).
Our 2010 annual conference featured presentations by Drs. David Wacker and John Walker (University of Manitoba) and was attended by 66 individuals. Our conference was funded by a number of sources at the University of Manitoba. The line-up consisted of eight presenters covering a variety of research and application topics, seven posters, and two exhibitor booths. Our 2011 conference will feature presentations by our guest speaker, Dr. Brian Iwata and our invited speaker, Dr. Vivenne Rowan (Assiniboine Psychological Group, Winnipeg).
As a way of recognizing the outstanding contributions made to the field of applied behaviour analysis in the province of Manitoba, MABA developed an Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Applied Behaviour Analysis Award in 2009, which was granted to Dr. Joseph Pear of the University of Manitoba. In 2010, Dr. Carl Stephens, president and CEO of St. Amant, was recognized for his significant contributions to the field in Manitoba. During Carl's roles of vice-president, president, and CEO of St. Amant, he has been instrumental in establishing the Research Program in 1997, which continues to facilitate research opportunities for University of Manitoba ABA faculty members and for their students to conduct research in developmental disabilities and autism. He has also been instrumental in building, maintaining, and providing guidance to the partnerships with government and Manitoba Families for Effective Autism Treatment to support the delivery of the St. Amant ABA Program for preschool and school-aged children with autism. St. Amant employs the largest number of behaviour analysts in the province. Carl has led St. Amant in providing generous financial contributions to the Psychology Graduate Fellowship, specifically as a way to support new graduate students majoring in ABA. More recently, St. Amant established a partnership with the University of Manitoba, which played a crucial role in securing two new tenure-track faculty positions in the ABA admissions area in the Department of Psychology.
In 2011, MABA will be unveiling a new website with improvements for visitors. The development of the new site is currently underway. Two key objectives for MABA in 2011 involve (a) improving BACB certification opportunities in Manitoba, and (b) partnering with the Psychological Association of Manitoba (PAM) to develop an ABA licensing model for the province. At present, Manitoba has five Board Certified Behaviour Analysts. This has made it difficult for the rapidly growing number of clinicians completing their graduate training and practicing in our province to obtain the necessary supervision to become board certified themselves. Since April 2010, MABA has been working with the BACB to establish a plan that will increase the number of supervision opportunities for local behaviour analysts to acquire their BACB supervision hours. Parallel to this process, MABA is working in partnership with PAM, the provincial psychology regulatory body, to ensure regulation of ABA in our province. In the fall of 2009, it was brought to our attention that one of our members was denied registration as an ABA area psychologist with PAM due to changes in their licensing practices. Since that time, MABA has been in communication with PAM and the University of Manitoba to address these changes and to advocate for our members' rights to register as psychologists. In the fall of 2010, an ABA practice area was developed by PAM, at which time all pending applications were accepted for C. Psych. Candidate status. To date, however, the criteria for examinations—educational requirements, and scope and venue of practice—have not been specified to reflect the work of behaviour analysts. Our goal for 2011 is to work in collaboration with PAM to establish these criteria.
In closing, MABA looks forward to another year of growth, during which we hope to achieve the goals we have outlined while providing our members with a new website, two newsletters, and a lineup of exciting conference presentations this fall.