Association for Behavior Analysis International

Applied behavior analysis is hands down the most effective treatment for young children with ASD. Many children with ASD receive ABA services at private clinics or from private providers who work with them at home. Many children with ASD, especially those from low income homes, only access the services to which they are entitled through IDEA (the federal special education law). There are often conflicts between behavior analysts who work for behavioral health agencies and teachers and behavior analysts who work for public schools about what services should be provided to young children with ASD and how these services should be provided. The purpose of this presentation is to describe how private BCBAs and public school personnel can work together to meet the needs of young children with ASD. I will describe a school based early intensive behavioral intervention that has sustained in Washington state for over 20 years and provide strategies that can be used to ensure that all children with ASD receive the quality of services to which they are entitled.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

There is increased attention to addressing problems of significant societal concern, which disproportionately affects marginalized populations and communities. Disparities in autism diagnosis, access to services, and cultural adaptations for underserved populations, including racial and ethnic minorities will be discussed. The importance of collaborating to address social determinants of health or underlying factors that may serve as antecedents for a range of issues is explored. The application of behavioral community approaches to advance community change through multisector collaboration is examined as a method of social validation. Opportunities are presented for cross-sector and multidisciplinary collaboration between applied behavior analysis and other disciplines including community psychology, prevention, and public health. The presentation examines strengths, challenges, and opportunities to contribute to change and improvements in population-level outcomes, including disparities in autism diagnosis and services, through multisector collaboration.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Dr. Jomella Watson-Thompson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Behavioral Science, and the Director of the Center for Service Learning at the University of Kansas. She is also affiliated with the Center for Community Health and Development. She attained a Ph.D. in Behavioral Psychology and a Masters of Urban Planning from the University of Kansas. She applies behavioral science methods and interventions to improve how communities address issues related to community health and development. Her research has focused on behavioral-community approaches to neighborhood development, substance abuse prevention, and youth and community violence prevention. Dr. Thompson supports community-engaged scholarship using participatory approaches to address social determinants or factors that may contribute to disparities, particularly for marginalized groups and communities. She has researched the effects of community-based processes and behavioral-community interventions to promote mobilization and change in communities.  Dr. Thompson has co-authored articles on community capacity-building, youth development, and prevention and received numerous federal, state and local funding awards.  She is as an Associate Editor with Behavior and Social Issues.  Dr. Thompson has extensive experience providing training, technical support and evaluation for coalitions and community-based initiatives.

This interactive panel discussion will focus upon leadership challenges facing women in applied behavior analysis in general and autism service delivery in particular. The panel members will share reflections from their own lives and career and offer strategies for how other scientist practitioners can behave with cultural humility and combat systemic biases facing women professionals.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists, graduate students.

With over 20-years’ experience in the Oil and Gas industry, Eziafakaku Nwokolo retired from her full-time job with Chevron Nigeria Limited in 2014 to pursue a new interest in the field of developmental disabilities. She has an MSc in Applied Behaviour Analysis-Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and is currently the only resident Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA®) in Nigeria. She is also a Qualified Behavior Analyst (QBA). 

Eziafakaku is the Founder/CEO of Shades of Life Care Limited; a company that provides services to individuals with developmental disabilities. She sits as a member of the International Standards Committee of the Qualified Applied Behavior Analysis (QABA) Credentialing Board and is the Secretary of the Association for Behaviour Analysis in Nigeria (ABAN).

She has given presentations of her work at different conferences – the Association of Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) 44th International Conference in San Francisco and the 5th European International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IASSIDD) Conference in Athens, at the inaugural International School for Disability Studies (ISDS) conference for IDD in Abuja, Nigeria and the first-ever Pan African Congress on Autism (PACA) conference in Nairobi, Kenya.

Currently, she is a PhD researcher whose interest lies in validating screening tools for Intellectual Disability (ID) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Nigeria. Her research focuses on screening for ID and ASD in Nigerian adolescents.

She is a mother of three whose middle child has autism.

Component-composite analysis is vital to the success of teaching and building academic skills. These procedures break down higher level, real world, composite performances into their components and tool skills, which guide the teacher to the appropriate place to begin instruction: with the learner’s entering behavior. When instruction begins at the learner’s entering behavior level, their escape and avoidance behaviors and the need for behavior reduction procedures are minimized. This presentation will provide many examples of component-composite analysis, and identify key areas for completing component-composite analyses in reading, writing, and math. It is also important to sort academic skills into those that teach procedures and those that teach concepts. This presentation will outline the necessary components for teaching a concept in any domain. Once these components are created, a teacher is ready to develop an instructional sequence tasks that include context-setting descriptions, rules, examples, and non-examples.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.