Newsletter
Volume 30| 2007| Number 2
Tennessee ABA
By Clayton R. Cea
Tennessee ABA’s mission is to advance awareness, development, and access to the practice of behavior analysis in the State of Tennessee by:
- Encouraging the understanding of behavior analysis in academic, research, and the natural environments.
- Supporting the design and application of effective behavioral procedures to improve the quality of life of the citizens of Tennessee.
- Serving as a professional reference group for those who identify themselves as scientists or practitioners in disciplines that embrace the principles and practices of behavior analysis.
- Advising political, legislative, and policy-making bodies with respect to all matters pertaining to behavior analysis.
- Organizing an annual conference that shall serve as a forum for the presentation of scientific and technological achievements, clinical practice, as well as for discussion of the affairs of the organization.
- Publishing and distributing information on behavior analysis.
Some Accomplishments over the Past Year
We finally have our Director of Operations! The development and assignment of this position within the organizational structure of TABA has been a long time coming. We are very excited to have an energetic and motivated DO and this has streamlined the process of managing our organization. We are also in the process of developing a comprehensive Operations Manual to serve as a detailed guide for our processes and complement the TABA By-Laws.
The TABA Website (www.taba.org) is now fully operational. Much effort has been put into developing this very useful tool. The site is designed to be useful for Behavior Analysts, other professionals and consumers. Some features of the Website are:
- Provides information about upcoming events, ABA in the news, the structure and mission of TABA, training and BCBA CEU’s.
- TABA Discussion Boards-Please be sure to periodically check the TABA discussion boards under the communication drop down box. This is a great way for all members to post topics as well as give constructive feedback to TABA committees.
- Job posting board: Tennessee employers can post job openings for any taba.org visitors to see. Anyone can visit this site to review Tennessee job openings.
- TABA Members section: Provides information to TABA members, how to become a TABA member and lists the job posting board.
- TABA Consumer page: Tennessee behavioral service providers can submit to be listed on this page. Consumers can visit this page to find Tennessee resources.
- Online Business Meetings: We are also using some features of this site to conduct online meeting of the TABA Executive Board.
- This site is currently operated on a volunteer basis and we are working to establish a stable contract to secure the future of the site.
- The progress toward a Consumer-Professional Special Interest Group has been a significant development in the last year. In 2006, this effort was a mere glint in the eyes of its originators. During the first few months of 2007, we have already had meetings of this SIG in the three regions of the state. There are currently twenty members in this group and it is still in its infancy. There has been much interest expressed in this group and we expect this to flower into a strong and influential group in 2007. We are hopeful this endeavor will generate a much closer contact with the consumers of ABA in Tennessee in order to increase awareness of the services available, enhance current services and develop new services desired by those who need us most.
- The 2006 TABA Annual Conference was a great success. Charles Catania sitting on a table top, engaging in discussion with TABA members on technical language was only one of the many sights to be seen this year at TABA 2006 in Nashville, TN. This year’s conference had 113 people in attendance. The conference generated a total of $10,715 in revenue and cost only $6,850. Dr. Bob Wahler was our keynote speaker and was supported by nine other invited speakers throughout this eventful weekend. This year TABA drew five invited presenters from different regions of the Volunteer State. In addition to the home-grown behavior analysts, we successfully attracted four out-of-state presenters and approximately nine out-of-state members.
Some Goals for the Next Year
The TABA 10th Annual Conference for 2007 is shaping up to be a major event! We have highly motivated and experienced members planning the conference. The TABA Executive Committee met at the planned conference hotel to develop initial plans together at the site for the 2007 conference. The Opryland Hotel is incredible and the Nashville area offers much in the way of recreation and leisure activities. The conference is planned for three days with at least two concurrent tracks and an outstanding lineup of presenters. The conference is designed to be an attraction for clinicians, researchers, teachers, students and consumers alike.
The dates are November 2 –4, 2007 at the Opryland Hotel, Nashville, Tennessee.
Early Registration ends October 15, 2007. On-site registration will be available after October 15th.
Submissions for presentations are due September 30, 2007. Exhibitor spaces are still available, and a Bookstore is planned.
The continued development of the Consumer-Professional SIG is an important goal for TABA over the next year and the years to come. We are working to spread to news about this group and generate a stimulating and useful agenda for the members.
Refinement of our Operations Manual is an ongoing effort. The work on this manual is helping to identify what is working and what is not working within our organization and enhance our process control. All of our Executive Officers are working together as a unified team to accomplish this goal.
We are also beginning research into the process of developing Health-Related Board to move toward a possible licensing program for Behavior Analysts in Tennessee. This movement is in the very beginning stages of concept development and identification of the resources required to work toward this goal.