Inside Behavior Analysis
Volume 3 | 2011 | Number 2 | Online ISSN: 2151-4704
Taiwan ABA
By Hua Feng
During the past year, Taiwan ABA (TABA) has accomplished quite a lot. First of all, through continuous support from SEEK Education and the Taiwanese government (e.g., Ministry of Education, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, etc.), we held an international conference in Taipei City on March 19–20, 2011. Positive behavior intervention for severe behavioral problems has recently been a big issue for professionals in Taiwan. The invited speakers—three honors scholars: Dr. Brian Iwata, Dr. Michele Wallace, and Dr. Neil Martin—and senior behavioral consultants and directors from Seek Education designed a 2-day conference to introduce the functional behavioral assessment and intervention for dealing with problem behaviors. There are more than 300 participants in this conference, which included a poster session. In addition, TABA also held a round table session on March 21, 2011, for universities interested in establishing BCBA certified programs. Five faculty members representing four universities in northern and southern Taiwan attended this meeting. During session, Dr. Martin discussed his programs in Europe and the movement to establish BCBA academic programs that has taken a big step forward.
For the annual training program, three 2-day workshops were held in north, central, and south Taiwan, and attracted more than 300 participants. With a donation from a foundation, we also held two 2-day workshops in far-off cities (Miao-li and Taitung City) without participant fees; about 150 participants attended the workshop.
The Graduate Institute of Rehabilitation Counseling at National Changhua University of Education continues to offer BCBA course sequences through the on-campus master's degree program, and the number of students enrolled in this program has steadily increased. SEEK Education also has joined the satellite program offered by the University of Nevada, Reno, and is trying to offer other options for professionals interested in pursuing BCBA accreditation in Taiwan. TABA offers a BCaBA program (28 students), and will finish the third and fourth course sequence by the end of 2011.
With the donation from a different foundation and SEEK Education, TABA has created different intervention programs, such as parent's one-on-one behavioral counseling, institutional staff training programs, social interaction training for adults with autism, and so on. SEEK Taichung is the major service provider for all the intervention programs.
Plans for the coming year include holding the fifth TABA annual convention in June, which will include invited speakers, posters, and paper presentations to share evidence-based research taking place in Taiwan. At least one issue of the TABA Journal will be published and TABA will maintain a website (www.tabatw.org.tw), which will include conference announcements, a membership directory, a parents' sharing section, and links to other behavior analysis sites.