Smita Awasthi, is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, beginning her Ph.D. program at Queens University, Belfast. Being the first Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) from India in 2004, came with its set of responsibilities. She could continue to work with kids with autism in India and the region, or she could create a behavioral momentum for advancing the science of applied behavior analysis (ABA) in India. As she traveled across India, from Kolkata in the East to Mumbai in the West and from Bangalore in South to Bhilwara in North, it did not take her long to see innumerable kind-hearted and dedicated professionals working with children with autism. The struggle they went through clearly needed to be addressed with evidence-based teaching practices.
Between February of 2004 and November of 2009, she conducted more than 45 workshops on using ABA and verbal behavior. These were attended by special educators, clinical psychologists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, and parents. This included orientation workshops at King’s George Medical College, Lucknow in 2006 and an introduction to ABA in the Indian Speech and Hearing Association in 2009 to a group of 50 speech and language pathologists. Other significant invitations came from Social Affairs Department, Chattisgarh in 2007 and Sri Ramchandra University (SRU), Chennai in 2008, to name a few. The stage was set, the behavioral momentum created, and people were writing to the Association for Behavior Analysis of India (ABA India) to ask where they could take ABA courses.
In 2006, under the aegis of the ABA India, Smita sent a letter to universities; Maurice Feldman of Brock University replied instantly. Brock University's program was already approved by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. Thus, Dr. Feldman and ABA India began a collaboration with SRU Chennai to begin the first university-based ABA course in India. This was actively followed-up personally by Dr. Feldman and Smita Awasthi to begin the first of a series of faculty trainings at SRU in November of 2009. The university program at SRU Chennai intends to impart ABA training to students to eventually prepare them for BCBA examination. This will generate a resource pool of behavior analysts who will go on to mentor others. This 2-year program will be the first course in India thoroughly dedicated to the science of behavior analysis. Universities in India are guided by regulation from other apex bodies and SRU is identifying ways to begin a new program in compliance with the apex bodies.
The course intends to create a domino effect that will make cost effective ABA courses available to meet the immense need for ABA education in India while bridging the gap as per market needs. On behalf of all members of ABA India, Smita would like to thank SABA for supporting the advancement of behavior analysis in India. The grant fund will be used to support faculty training through distance contact, meetings, and by providing mentoring services.