Send us a text Welcome to Season 5 of ABA on Tap! In an effort to bring more support directly to parents, as well as ABA professionals, Mike and Dan kick off the season with an article review (link below). Right in line with the objective, an article from a parenting magazine about 'what not to do' with autistic children is reviewed for this brew. As has been the recipe on ABA on Tap, whenever Dan and Mike here 'don't', they automatically ponder the 'do' portion of such a recommendation. This ep...
Feb 04, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Send us a text It has been an incredible run for ABA on Tap in 2023! Mike and Dan take a moment to recap all our discussions and themes. They give some hints about what is to come in season 5. Most importantly, Mike and Dan give THANKS! to all of you out there who collaborate with us and support the show in any way. ABA on TAP appreciates YOU! Enjoy this well-rounded ale and CHEERS to the new year and season 5 of ABA on Tap. Always analyze responsibly. Support the show 🔥 Enjoyed this episode? D...
Jan 07, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Season 4Ep. 12
Send us a text ABA is often seen as home-based in terms of its service location. While this may at times extend to the premise of 'community,' the procedures and protocols can appear very similar from place to place. However, just like behavior, the environment can have a substantial influence on how ABA can be practiced and implemented. One particular environment that presents clear constraints to practice is a classroom environment on a school campus. That is to say, there are clear guidelines...
Nov 27, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 4Ep. 11
Send us a text Mike and Dan continue to bubble and brew over the challenges in the field of ABA intervention, and specifically the undervalued role of the RBT. They provide impressions and personal tales regarding their own professional transition from possibly the best reimbursement rates in the history of ABA intervention to a new outfit where said rates will be slashed by 60% and now match the rest of the field. Considering the premise that an RBT can make a more consistent and predictable li...
Oct 22, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 4Ep. 10
Send us a text Private equity has entered the ABA services game with great fervor, making a tremendous impact on the field as a whole. In this episode, Mike and Dan take a close look at some 'crisis' elements created by the infusion of private equity and an aim to generate revenue, at times at the expense of the quality of services and client outcomes. At the same time, it can be discerned that ABA practitioners had developed some less than desirable habits prior to private equity, but certainly...
Aug 27, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 4Ep. 9
Send us a text Continuity of quality service might be one of the most important aspects of treatment with successful outcomes. Quality can refer to a number of variables including a strong rapport between client (and family) and clinicians, built over time with a steady progression of engaging and reinforcing sessions. While case managers are part of this quality service, it is inevitably the registered behavior technicians (RBTs) who share the most time and encounters with client and family. of...
Jul 31, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 4Ep. 8
Send us a text From vertically-oriented wall schedules to PECS to token and choice boards--ABA practitioners love their so-called 'visuals'. In this brewing session, Mike and Dan dissect the idea of these strange technologies to understand what is meant by 'visual,' especially if all parties involved are 'sighted' individuals. Taking the ideas of joint attention and naturalistic strategies, Dan and Mike are able to boil it down to the difference between what can be easily accessed visually in th...
Jun 25, 2023•1 hr•Season 4Ep. 7
Send us a text In observation of Autism Acceptance and Awareness Month, Mike and Dan examine a very poignant and sharp criticism of ABA intervention strategies (link is below). Reviewed exactly as published on the website ' autisticscienceperson.com ,' the current brew integrates several points of disapproval, as written by an author that identifies as autistic. While ABA on Tap welcomes a deep analysis of ABA itself and has entertained several detractors before, this particular point of content...
May 08, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Send us a text Beginning with one of the most foundational ingredients available for this brew, Mike and Dan lean on hearty handfuls of Diana Baumrind's nominal research on parenting styles from back in the 1960s. Fresh off a healthy pour on 'Parent Education,' it makes perfect sense for the behavioral brew to examine styles of parenting. Many new flavors and 'hints' of different aromas have surfaced over the years---including terms like 'collaborative parenting', or the seemingly harsher but li...
Mar 19, 2023•1 hr 30 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Send us a text ABA on Tap is proud to introduce Jennifer Stephens, a BCBA and clinical counselor, in this latest installment of our behavioral brew. Jennifer is owner/operator of the Stephens Consulting Group in Kentucky and also a long time listener of ABA on Tap. She took inspiration from our inaugural episode 'Why 40-hours?' and has graciously agreed to join as a guest and continue the conversation. In this episode, you will hear more about considerations toward recommendation of levels of se...
Mar 12, 2023•58 min•Season 4Ep. 4
Send us a text In considering traditional approaches to ABA intervention and the importance of imitation as a key building block in learning, you have probably heard the directive (discriminative stimulus) 'Do This' as an essential part of so-called non-verbal imitation programs. In this episode, Mike and Dan take some time to examine the premise of non-verbal imitation, its role in more traditional approaches as well as available adaptations to take this practice from the 'lab to living room.' ...
Feb 19, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Send us a text For this brew, Dan and Mike take time to incorporate some recent events with policing and the challenges faced by said institutions in providing training and support. Given current discussions and criticism of ABA methods and treatment, your hosts draw comparisons and parallels between the ideas of ABA intervention and policing as it relates to behavior management to preserve an acceptable 'peace' in the process, but perhaps more importantly, the goal of protecting and serving. Us...
Feb 05, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Send us a text Parents are an integral part of any successful ABA-based intervention protocol. The simple fact is, given a least restrictive level of services, parents should be enjoying a much greater amount of time with their children than the ABA provider is spending. Historically, this has seen a very necessary and natural evolution, moving from the idea of parent 'training' in ABA methods, to the more modern inception discussed here--parent education about ABA principles as they are activel...
Feb 05, 2023•59 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Send us a text ABA has essentially become synonymous with treatment of ASD, and medically speaking, nothing else despite a wide-array of possibilities. Insurance mandates have now existed in many states across the United States for 10 or more years, but are specific to ABA as a recommended treatment for ASD. In this episode, Mike and Dan guide us through the idea of 're-specialization' for the ABA field, toward greater utility. Specifically, as inspired by Patrick Friman's 2010 publication on br...
Nov 27, 2022•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 8
Send us a text What goes up must come down--after a two-part series on the idea of an 'escalation cycle,,' Dan and Mike could only follow up with a discussion on de-escalation. In this follow-up episode, Dan and Mike continue to utilize the notion of 'crisis' or 'assaultive' behavior and its management as a means to better understand and elucidate strategies for addressing day-to-day challenging behavior. While the behavior being emitted by the client or child is often the focus of intervention,...
Nov 06, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Send us a text As promised, a continuation of the discussion on the escalation cycle as filtered through the idea of crisis and so-called 'assaultive' behavior, and further how this model can be aptly utilized in considering challenging behaviors from day to day. While we often consider the child or person emitting the undesired behavior, Dan and Mike take time to include the responder as an active, and integral variable in the environment. Grab a few more ice cubes, freshen up your drink and ta...
Sep 27, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Send us a text In this episode, Dan and Mike tackle a very important and dense topic--the idea of a cycle of escalation as it pertains to behavior management. Starting from the perspective of crisis management, specifically considering a familiar and widely-recognized system like 'Pro-Act,' the premise is to consider not just the outward behavior itself, but perhaps more importantly, the internal antecedents and correlates from a brain and behavior perspective. In this first portion of a multi-p...
Sep 26, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Send us a text As ABA professionals, we are often called upon to reduce the occurrence of so-called 'maladaptive' behaviors. Terms like protest, tantrum, elopement or escape are all too common though they don't provide clean description of the behavior or its function. Often times, what we mean is that a child or client spent a certain amount of time crying, for example, and suddenly we run the risk of missing the adaptive value of an instinctive and reflexive behavior. While we don't want our c...
Aug 16, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Send us a text Following the two part series on Joint Attention, Dan and Mike extend the discussion to include verbal behavior. Dan takes a lead to expand and make an important distinction between verbal and vocal behavior. Herein comes a strong connection with joint attention given that eye gaze and pointing for example, are both fundamentally sound verbal behaviors. While at times we focus on the vocalization or words, we must pay close attention to all communicative behaviors. Sit back, joint...
Jun 12, 2022•59 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Send us a text The brew continues in Joint Attention Part II. Mike and Dan review research on the correlation between joint attention, imitation, language development (verbal/vocal behavior) and play. From this, they focus on a specific research-based method designed to promote joint attention--namely following a point (both proximal and distal) as well as gaze shift, then leading others with point and gaze shift. The idea of joint attention as a constant mode of presentation, along with conting...
Apr 11, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Send us a text Better late than never, Mike and Dan kick off the 3rd season of ABA on Tap. Thank you all out there for your continued support and listenership. In an effort to advance the 'lab to living room' approach, Mike and Dan give a historical account of their current practices in early intervention. Given that these particular programs take a 'preventative' edge in their purpose and objective, the idea of blending ABA technologies and methodologies with best practices in Early Childhood E...
Apr 11, 2022•45 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Send us a text Mike and Dan discussed collaboration with SLP and OT. Now they explore current and prospective efforts with psychiatric care, use of medication from said psychiatric care, as well as future efforts in primary medical care, an 'off-label' use of ABA, per the current treatment model. ABA provision and related data could easily provide a wealth of information to treatment with medication, addressing side-effect management and possible enhancement of treatment effects, given fidelity ...
Dec 20, 2021•56 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Send us a text Behavior encompasses a wide range of activity from talking, to moving around to just about anything that makes us animate as human animals. Yet ABA is often quickly boiled down to the 'bad behavior' science, addressing the tantrums, excessive crying, dropping to the ground, self-injurious behavior, etc. This general overview can be so pervasive that we can easily forget the need for other professionals to get a child to sit down and attend, both super important learning behaviors,...
Nov 11, 2021•47 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Send us a text "Let's make some visuals" or "that child would benefit from sensory" are two commonly heard phrases in ABA intervention yet they sound strange and overall lack meaning. In this episode, Mike and Dan take time to explore technologies like 'sensory,' 'visuals', social stories, tangible/edible reinforcement and more. These technologies were adapted with good intent, no doubt, but over the years have lost their power and purpose due to user error or the like. Many may be part of outda...
Jul 26, 2021•55 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Send us a text Ready to learn more and engage in philosophic doubt, Mike and Dan take on a recent opinion published by the well-known education writer, Alfie Kohn. Kohn lends an eloquent criticism of ABA, pointing to recent meta-analyses that aim to question, if not eliminate, any socially significant effects and benefits of ABA-based interventions, as used with individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, for example. Kohn's arguments are carefully examined, credited where deserving, and aptly co...
Mar 31, 2021•53 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Send us a text The brew continues to mature as Mike and Dan evolve the discussion naturally into the next flavor, antecedent based strategies. Given ABA has been driven largely by a consequence base, the discussion leads into how to prepare for certain behaviors ahead of time, knowing they are actively being emitted. The idea becomes not to preempt or avoid the behavior, but to prepare for it in terms of learning potential toward the next time the same circumstance arises. In this manner, conseq...
Jan 07, 2021•46 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Send us a text Welcome to Season 2 of ABA on Tap--Happy New Year! Mike and Dan jump right back in where they left off. Following the natural progression and discussion thus far, they happen upon differential reinforcement in order to promote a more multivariate application of ABA than seems the norm. Given the perpetuation of 3-part contingencies, the so-called ABCs of behavior, ABA in practice is often an amalgam of single, linear contingencies as opposed to a dynamic evocation of many behavior...
Jan 07, 2021•44 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Send us a text After entertaining Chloe's criticisms and doing so seriously, Dan and Mike take a chance to explore ABA clichés--all those little overused misconceptions and stereotypes we hear out in our daily work about why ABA doesn't work. All the while, ABA touts empirical validation. How do we reconcile between what is proven and the possibility of user-error--how does ABA work for many and yet have such a vocal opposition? What are the grievances and which are legitimate? Which grievances ...
Dec 03, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Send us a text Dan and Mike take time to reflect further on criticisms of ABA as lent by Chloe Everett in her TedTalk, The Problem with Applied Behavior Analysis (https://youtu.be/pCqEb0aG7tg). More importantly, in part II of this episode, they respond on said criticisms. Lastly, future directions and changes to ABA practice are discussed, from the lab to the living room. Sit back, relax, enjoy and always analyze responsibly. Support the show 🔥 Enjoyed this episode? Don’t forget to subscribe, r...
Oct 15, 2020•49 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Send us a text While ABA rightfully touts empirical validation, social validity may not always reflect as strongly. One need not go further than Google to find a plethora of harsh criticism against ABA. Such a vocal critic is found in Chloe Everett and her TEDTalk entitled "The Problem with Applied Behavior Analysis" (https://youtu.be/pCqEb0aG7tg). Chloe is a well-spoken young woman who shares her experience as a 'patient' of ABA intervention given her diagnostic experience. In her talk, Chloe g...
Oct 09, 2020•47 min•Season 1Ep. 7
