Newsletter
Volume 30| 2007| Number 2
Heartland ABA
By Dr. Steven L. Taylor
The Heartland Association for Behavior Analysis (HLABA) became an approved chapter of the Association for Behavior Analysis International in June 2006. HLABA’s purpose is to promote the analytical science of behavior and its associated technologies within the Heartland area. To this end, we held our first conference November 9-10, 2006 at Nebraska Children’s Home in Omaha. We were hoping to attract 30 to 40 participants to call the conference a success. Much to our surprise, there were 159 people who registered for the conference from Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota and are now HLABA members.
A pre-conference workshop on Functional Analysis was presented by Dr. Wayne Fisher, Professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The following day’s schedule included presentations by Dr. Fisher (Interventions with Severe Self-Injurious Behavior), Dr. Cathleen Piazza, Professor and editor-elect for JABA (ABA Approaches to Feeding and Swallowing Disorders), Dr. Keith Allen, Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (Management of Pediatric Dental Procedures), and Dr. Joel Ringdahl, Assistant Professor, University of Iowa College of Medicine (Factors Affecting Functional Communication).
The success of the conference was attributed to the work of many individuals. Dr. Joe Evans was the conference coordinator. Other board members and conference assistants were Judith Mathews, Anney Fahrenholz, Steven Taylor, and Bobby Buckner. Jeff Tiger and Janie and Roger Peterson also provided key assistance. John Pokrzynski from Woodward Resource Center provided CEUs for BCBAs and BCABAs.
Attendance at our first conference was well beyond Board expectations and indicates the need for a group to represent applied behavior analysis in the Heartland. Plans are currently underway for our next Conference in October 2007 and to develop a HLABA Website. If you would like more information about HLABA, please contact Steven Taylor or Anney Fahrenholz through the ABA Membership Directory.