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| Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Behavior Analysts: Behavioral Flexibility Training Within Your Scope of Practice |
| Friday, May 26, 2017 |
| 8:00 AM–3:00 PM |
| Hyatt Regency, Centennial Ballroom E |
| Area: PRA/AUT; Domain: Service Delivery |
| CE Instructor: Thomas G. Szabo, Ph.D. |
| THOMAS G. SZABO (Florida Institute of Technology), JONATHAN J. TARBOX (FirstSteps for Kids; University of Southern California ), EMILY KENNISON SANDOZ (University of Louisiana at Lafayette) |
| Description: Have you ever wondered how applied behavior analysts might respond to an individual's private events while staying within our scope of practice and maintaining the highest levels of scientific rigor? How to go about saving the world with behavior analysis? For example, how do you help a parent mediate ABA services when she feels ashamed and has difficulty focusing? Help client deal with bigoted behavior, traumatic events, sexual violence, or bullying? Do you have the professional skills to handle such conversations with compassion and caringly bring your client's focus under the control of relevant contingencies of reinforcement? Applied behavior analysts have developed potent, evidence-based technologies for igniting socially significant behavioral change in a variety of settings. This workshop brings to behavior analysts new tools with which to establish the need for, occasion, and reinforce responding that is sensitive to changes in the prevailing contingencies of reinforcement. We will examine the practical tools and basic science undergirding acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and how you might be able to make use of ACT strategies in your practice, while staying close to the BACB Task List 4th edition and our scope of practice as outlined by Baer, Wolf, and Risley (1968). |
| Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the workshop, participants will be able to: (1) Examine data from investigations on treating child and adult behavioral rigidity; (2) Engage in (or observe) experiential exercises designed to promote flexibility; (3) Discuss these exercises within the context of basic behavior analytic principles. |
| Activities: Activities will include - Lecture on basic research that led to this practice, including stimulus equivalence, relational framing, rule insensitivity, and delay discounting - Practical small- and large- group training on how to develop your own ACT procedures to help people spend less time struggling with private events and more time engaging in behavior that accomplishes - Group discussion pertaining to the focuses of ACT that are appropriate for behavior analysts versus those that are better left to those in psychotherapy and counseling fields Note: this workshop is not about treating psychological disorders. It is about helping behavior analysts address a fuller range of human behavior and, in doing so, help clients, clients' parents, and behavior analysts themselves, to be more effective in achieving their daily goals. |
| Audience: This workshop does not require previous training in basic principles of learning or ACT. It is geared to be an introductory level workshop that anyone can attend. However, there is a significant amount of new material here that will be of value to those that are well trained in conceptual, experimental, applied research, and practice domains of the science. Therefore, we strongly encourage intermediate and advanced learners to attend. |
| Content Area: Practice |
| Instruction Level: Basic |
| Keyword(s): Behavioral flexibility, Delay Discounting, Relational Framing, Stimulus Equivalence |