Newsletter
Volume 28 | 2005 | Number 1
Updates from the Behavioral Community
In Memoriam
Arthur E. Whimbey (63 years)
ABA member Art Whimbey, director of the TRAC Institute, textbook author, and consultant, died in Albuquerque, NM on August 19. Pioneer in the thinking skills movement, Whimbey was an outstanding instructional designer whose creed from the 1960s was that intelligence can be taught. His best known thinking skills book, Problem Solving and Comprehension, is in its 6th edition. Turning to teaching reading, writing, and thinking skills in subject matter areas, he wrote Mastering Reading Through Reasoning; Thinking Through Math Word Problems, and How to Analyze, Organize, Write Effectively. He and his wife, Myra J. Linden, coauthored 12 books including Why Johnny Can’t Write: How to Improve Writing Skills, nominated for the 1991 College Composition and Communication Conference’s Outstanding Book Award. Next they developed the Prototype-Construction Approach to teaching grammar, based on 60 years of linguistics research and the highly successful 1970s sentence combining movement. This seven-book series improves students’ reading, writing, and reasoning skills. In 2003 their history and historical biographies software won one of the ten “very prestigious” InfoWorld Educations Awards for Enterprise Innovation and Information Leadership. Among the other winners is software from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A memorial symposium is planned for the 2005 annual conference of the Association of Behavior Analysis in Chicago, IL.
Behavior Analyst Certification Board Update
By Gerald L. Shook, Ph.D., BCBA, Executive Director
BACB June 2005 international administrations are scheduled for Saturday June 4, with an additional administration planned in conjunction with the Association for Behavior Analysis Convention in Chicago. Preliminary data from the December 2004 administration indicate approximately 600 candidates will be newly certified, bringing the total number of individuals certified by the BACB to nearly 4,000. Individuals who are interested in having the examinations administered in their area, or who are interested in BACB presentations at local conferences, should e-mail info@BACB.com.
Over the past two years, the BACB Professional Experience workgroup, chaired by Ray Romanczyk, has been collecting information and developing recommendations for improvements in the experience requirements for individuals to qualify for the certification examinations. Following the delivery of the workgroup report at the June directors’ meeting, a joint committee was formed (consisting of the BACB Experience and Standards committees) to finalize development of revised experience standards. After considerable work by the joint committee, chaired by Jim Johnston, an initial draft of the standards was sent to the contact faculty of the 63 universities with BACB-approved course sequences for review and comment. The BACB reviewed these comments and made revisions to the proposed standards when warranted. The revised standards will include important changes in both supervisor qualifications and experience requirements for those who wish to qualify for examination. There will be greater flexibility in how experience is accumulated but greater structure in the supervisory relationship. Ample lead time will be provided for supervisors and academic programs to make any adjustments suggested by the revised standards. Please see www.BACB.com for additional details.
The BACB will be implementing new coursework eligibility standards in 2005. All applications submitted by the application deadlines for the June 2005 examination will be subject to the following standards: If the application is complete and approved by the BACB by the application deadline for the June 2005 examination, the candidate will have two years from the date the application was submitted to sit for the examination. However, if the approved candidate does not sit for the examination by June 2005, or sits but does not pass by June of 2005, then the candidate will need to take the examination developed under the Third Edition Task List. If the application is submitted but is incomplete, and is not approved for any reason, the applicant must reapply under the standards and content requirements in effect for the December 2005 examination. All applications submitted after the application deadlines for the June 2005 examination will have to meet the new standards. Please see www.BACB.com for additional details.
North Carolina ABA
By Duke Schell, Ph.D.
The theme for NCABA’s 16th annual conference is “Expansions and Applications”. Presentations will be made by many professionals from within North Carolina, including Past ABA President Carol Pilgrim, and other nationally known behavior analysis researchers Dennis Reid, Fred Spooner, Diane Browder, Carolyn Green, and Marsha Parsons. We have a wonderful line up of invited speakers from across the country, including Lee Kern from Lehigh University who will present on the topic of creating a positive and supportive school climate and developing individualized supports for students with intensive needs. Also, Rob O’Neil, professor at the University of Utah, will speak about the recent trends and issues in Positive Behavior Support. There will be two conference workshops on Effective Behavioral Consultations and Case Studies in Ethics this year that offer BCBA credit as well as psychologist licensure credit. A poster session, silent auction, and NCABA social will round out the conference events. A tentative agenda, membership and conference registration forms, poster submission instructions and special electronic payment options are available on our website. Conference information will be updated online when it becomes available.
For the latest information about NCABA, including additional information about the 2005 conference, visit our website at: www.nc-aba.com.