Inside Behavior Analysis
Volume 3 | 2011 | Number 2 | Online ISSN: 2151-4704
Texas ABA
By Gordon Bourland
The past year has been a very special one for the Texas Association for Behavior Analysis (TxABA). The year marked the 25th year of TxABA's existence representing behavior analysis in Texas and the adjoining states.
This year's TxABA annual conference was held in beautiful Galveston, Texas, from February 25–27, 2011. This year's conference highlighted TxABA's having reached the mature age of 25 years! Conference events occurred at the spacious and beautiful Galveston Convention Center, and this was the first conference to be held over 3 days. The conference was well attended (approximately 500 people registered), and postconference feedback was overwhelmingly positive regarding all the facets of the event. Presentations on Friday occurred in different tracks: The autism track, chaired by Jenn Fritz, included two 3-hour workshops by Sarah Bloom and Andrew Samaha for professional behavior analysts. The autism track also included two 3-hour introductory-level workshops by Andrew Samaha and by Sarah Bloom. Anna Petursdottir chaired the general track, which included 3-hour workshops by Douglas Woods and Gina Green. The basic and applied research track, chaired by Manish Vaidya, provided 1-hour presentations by five researchers—Kimberly Kirkpatrick, Gerson Yukio Tomanari, Yusuke Hayashi, Karen M. Lionello-Denolf, and Erik Arntzen. On Friday evening, a poster session and a student-led social event were held. (Special thanks to Jenn Fritz and the Applied Behavior Analysis Student Organization of the University of Houston-Clear Lake for planning and hosting the social.) On Saturday, the Autism track presentations were conducted by Linda LeBlanc, Andrew Samaha, Iser G. DeLeon, Shala Alai'-Rosales, and Sarah Bloom. General track presentations on Saturday were conducted by Douglas Woods, Henry D. Schlinger, Gina Green, Brian Iwata, and William G. Rantz. Saturday's sessions concluded with Richard W. Malott (ABAI president) presenting "A Practitioner Model for Undergraduate and Graduate Training in Autism." On Sunday morning, as part of TxABA's celebration of its 25th year, Richard Malott made a presentation titled, "Dream Chasers," reflecting the contributions of a number of behavior analysts—some well known and some not—to the field and to the world at large. Robin Rumph followed Malott with a presentation tracing the founding and development of TxABA. The final presentation of the conference was a panel discussion, chaired by Sigrid Glenn and including Shala Alai'-Rosales, Deb Grossett, and Anna Petursdottir addressing the future of behavior analysis and TxABA with respect to research, training, and intervention services. Continuing education credits acceptable to the BACB were available for all presentations. Appreciation is due to the Conference Committee, composed of the program track chairs and conference coordinator Billy Edwards, all of whom contributed much time and effort, and demonstrated much patience throughout the year to make the conference such a success.
On Saturday evening of the 37th ABAI Annual Convention in Denver, TxABA hosted a special celebration for having reached its 25th year. This special event, planned by the 25th Anniversary Celebration Committee—chaired by Robin Rumph, one of the founding members of TxABA—began with a special dinner and a video presentation. The presentation reflected TxABA's founding and activities, with photos of TxABA events and participants, and included reflections and comments by a number of TxABA officers, past and present. (The video, prepared primarily by Carla Smith, will be placed on the TxABA website after further editing and expansion.)
Following the dinner, TxABA presented awards recognizing the contributions of a number of behavior analysts in Texas. The Pioneer in Behavior Analysis in Texas Awards were presented, posthumously, to Donald Whaley, James Kopp, and Joel Greenspoon and reflected upon their early contributions to the development of behavior analysis in Texas—all predating the founding of TxABA. Sigrid Glenn and Don Williams both received TxABA's Career Contributions to Behavior Analysis in Texas Award in recognition of their behavior analytic work in a variety of roles (e.g., researchers, practitioners, administrators) for over two decades. The Public Service Contributions Award was presented to Jeffrey Enzinna in appreciation of his successful efforts promoting the recognition of behavior analysis by state agencies that fund human services in Texas. Gordon Bourland, TxABA president, provided comments commemorating Jim Kopp, a founding member of TxABA and the first president of the organization, who died in late 2010. Following a champagne toast by Robin Rumph and Gordon Bourland, recognizing TxABA's past and expressing positive expectations for its future, the evening continued with live music and dancing. Special appreciation is due to the 25 Anniversary Celebration Committee—Robin Rumph (chair), Anna Petursdottir, Leslie Burkett, Deb Grossett, Ron Manns, Carla Smith, Heather Barahona, Mandy Rispoli, Tracey Lepper, and Sigrid Glenn.
During the convention, two student scholarships were awarded: Chris Varnon and Rebecca Kunkel (both from the University of North Texas) each were granted a $500 scholarship from TxABA to assist with their expenses in attending the 2012 ABAI Annual Convention in Seattle. To be eligible for the award, a student had to be the presenting author of a presentation accepted for the event. Lori Russo and Sarah Lechago reviewed submissions, selecting the two who scored the highest on the review criteria. The TxABA Council named the scholarships the James L. Kopp Memorial Student Scholarships in honor of Jim Kopp.
TxABA's activities are overseen by the TxABA Council. For 2010–2011, council members were Duy Le, Anna Petursdottir (term of office expired in April), Lori Russo, Traci Lepper (student representative, term of office expired in April), Manish Vaidya (past president, term of office expired in April), and Gordon Bourland, (president, term of office expired in April). Elections in February resulted in Anna Petursdottir being elected president for 2011–2013, Jennifer Fritz elected to the TxABA Council (for 2011–2014), and Summer Koltonski elected as student representative (for 2011–2012). Gordon Bourland will serve as past president (for 2011&2013). Excellent support for the council continued to be provided by Leslie Burkett (treasurer) and Heather Barahona (administrative coordinator). At present, TxABA has approximately 600 members across the various levels.
Communication with members and others interested in TxABA continued as a major point of emphasis this year. Information continues to be provided via e-mail, the TxABA Facebook fan page, and the TxABA website (www.txaba.org), which was revised during the year.
During the past year TxABA has provided comments and recommendations to public agencies on several issues. This has been done through submission of written comments as well as testimony at agency meeting. Issues addressed have included the proposed addition of persons with little or no training in behavior analysis to develop intervention plans for persons served by Medicaid-waiver programs, state funding of services to persons with disabilities (especially young children diagnosed with autism), and possible licensing of behavior analysts. Introduction of possible legislation to license behavior analysts in Texas seems highly unlikely at this time, but funding concerns continue as the legislature remains in session at the time of this writing. These activities have involved the TxABA Council as a whole as well as the TxABA Legislative Committee, chaired by Billy Edwards.
Several other committees have been established to distribute the work of TxABA and to address important issues. One group that completed its work during the year was the Task Force on Licensure of Behavior Analysts, chaired by Don Williams. This group reviewed information related to licensing behavior analysts, especially as germane to Texas. The group's report with recommendations for the TxABA Council was received and the recommendations endorsed. A second committee, the Non-English Behavior Analysis Materials Committee, chaired by Lori Russo, identified and reviewed Spanish-language materials regarding behavior analysis. The information will be made available on the website. A new TxABA committee is the Publicity and Membership Committee. This group will provide information regarding TxABA and behavior analysis to TxABA members, persons interested in TxABA and/or behavior analysis, companies, agencies, and governmental entities interested in TxABA and/or to which information regarding TxABA and/or behavior analysis is relevant. An additional task of the committee is promoting membership in TxABA. During the year the number of TxABA's special interest group (SIG) operations grew. Both previously established groups, the Central and South Texas Autism SIG (Lupe Castaneda, chair) and the Dallas-Fort Worth Area Autism SIG (Kecia Adams-Wright, chair) have been quite active in providing professional education and social opportunities for persons interested in behavior analytic interventions for persons with autism spectrum disorders. The TxABA OBM SIG (Domonique Randall, chair) joined them. This group conducts meetings to review and discuss OBM literature and issues, promotes informal interaction among members, and maintains a website with a discussion forum.
The coming year is expected to be another busy one for TxABA. Virtually all the previously mentioned activities will be continued. Pursuing the tasks of the Publicity and Membership Committee will be emphasized during the year. Additionally, the TxABA Council will continue actively interacting with both public and private sector entities to promote support for behavior analysis in matters germane to the field and to the public interest.