Newsletter
Volume 30 | 2007 | Number 2
Pennsylvania ABA
By Dr. William Helsel
PennABA was founded in the late 1990s by Richard M. Foxx and William J. Helsel to provide an opportunity for Pennsylvania’s growing number of behavior analysts to further their knowledge in the field and to connect with other behavior analysts. Since then, PennABA has held an annual conference attracting participants from across the state, and a membership of over 200 people. Dr. Foxx continues to serve as the organization’s Executive Director, and Dr. Helsel as President.
After successful two-day conferences in 2005 in Philadelphia area and 2006 in Harrisburg/ Hershey area, PennABA held their annual conference in Pittsburgh, PA at the Sheraton Station Square on April 19th and 20th, 2007. Speakers were Nancy A. Neef, Richard M. Foxx, Dennis H. Reid, Martin Ivancic, Richard M. Kubina, and Keith E. Williams. Their topics included promoting happiness, ethics, precision teaching, life quality, studying ADHD, visual display in journal articles, feeding and nutrition, importance of science, and motivating support staff. The wide range of topics covered reflects the interests of PennABA’s diverse membership of behavior analysts, psychologists, special educators, students, and colleagues from neighboring states. In order to meet the needs of our membership, PennABA has provided continuing education credits for behavior analysts, psychologists, as well as ACT 48 credits to PA educators at no additional cost. Students are an integral part of our membership, and PennABA has benefited from our relationship with several universities in PA with graduate level programs in behavior analysis. Students are represented on PennABA’s executive council and have presented their research at our annual conferences.
An exciting new development for PennABA has been the launching of our Website, www.pennaba1.org. The Website contains information about upcoming events, conference and membership registration forms, links to organizations that may be of interest to our members, as well as job postings in behavior analysis in Pennsylvania. PennABA also continues to publish an electronic newsletter sent to our members in the late winter or early spring.
For more information about PennABA, please visit our Website www.pennaba1.org, or contact Bill Helsel at w.helsel@att.net