In Session 331, I sat down with Dr. Ben Seifert to talk about some of the most challenging — and important — work happening in applied behavior analysis today: supporting individuals with severe problem behavior. Ben shared his journey into the field, beginning with his early experiences at Lindamood-Bell and later at BACA under the mentorship of Carl Sundberg and others who helped shape his clinical perspective. Along the way, we discussed what originally drew him toward working with clients wh...
May 14, 2026•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 331
In this episode, I'm joined by Drs. Brandon May and Maggie Pavone , and Kate Heersink to talk about how we can better support healthier lifestyles for individuals with developmental disabilities. We start by digging into how each of them came to this work. Maggie shares some early experiences working as a direct support professional, where she began to notice patterns between food-related variables and challenging behavior. Brandon talks about coming into behavior analysis through the health and...
Apr 25, 2026•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 330
In Session 329, I'm joined once again by Dr. Nick Green , Ph.D., BCBA-D, who's been doing some really interesting work at the intersection of fitness and behavior science. In this episode, Nick walks us through the basics of heart rate training zones and why simply "working out" isn't always enough. We talk about the general recommendation of 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per week, but more importantly, how to make sure that time is actually spent in the right zones—particularly Z...
Apr 08, 2026•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 329
Episode Summary In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Daniel Fienup , Dr. Kate Loomis , and Lilian Morales to discuss their recent paper in JABA, Turning the Page: Increasing children's preference for looking at and engaging with books . In this episode, we explore how books can function as powerful reinforcers for young children, especially in early learning and ABA contexts. We discuss how to identify when books are actually reinforcing, how to condition books as reinforcers if they're not alread...
Apr 02, 2026•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 328
Comportamiento, espacio y algoritmos: Análisis de la conducta recargado En este episodio de Espacio y Comportamiento , Miguel Avila conversa con Alejandro León sobre una dimensión del comportamiento que históricamente ha sido poco explorada en nuestro campo: el espacio. Más allá de medir cuándo ocurre una conducta o cuántas veces se presenta, esta conversación propone mirar dónde ocurre, cómo nos movemos en el ambiente y cómo los patrones de acercamiento, alejamiento y trayectoria espacial organ...
Mar 20, 2026•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 327
Thanks for joining me for Session 326 of The Behavioral Observations Podcast. This episode was recorded live at the 2025 Verbal Behavior Conference, where I had the honor of moderating the annual panel discussion. If you haven't attended a previous Verbal Behavior Conference, you're in luck, because the next one is coming up in just a few short weeks. The 2026 VBC will be held on March 26th and 27th, and it will be preceded by a full day workshop. If you've listened to the show for any length of...
Mar 11, 2026•1 hr•Ep. 326
In this episode, I talk with Dr. Alice Shillingsburg about her work on rapport building and pairing procedures in applied behavior analysis for children with autism. We explore how building therapeutic rapport goes beyond simply "liking someone," emphasizing the importance of establishing trust and engagement to facilitate learning, especially when tasks are challenging. Alice explains the nine-stage pairing protocol she developed and highlights how careful timing, observation, and reinforcement...
Feb 23, 2026•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 325
In Session 324, Dr. Paulie Gavoni and Steve Ward join me to discuss what resilience actually looks like from a behavior science perspective — and why many well-intentioned adult responses can unintentionally teach avoidance instead of persistence. We center our conversation around their book, S.H.I.T. Happens: Building Resilient Children in a Fragile World , which reframes resilience not as a personality trait or motivational slogan, but as a set of learnable repertoires shaped by the environmen...
Feb 13, 2026•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 324
In this episode of the Behavioral Observations Podcast, I'm joined by Kim Dean , founder of Apollo Behavior , and Kristen Vaughn , Vice President of Clinical Operations, to talk about what it really takes to build and sustain clinical excellence in autism services. We discuss Apollo's decision to launch in Georgia, their highly selective hiring process, and how values alignment plays a central role in building their culture. Kim and Kristen share how Apollo approaches training differently — incl...
Jan 30, 2026•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 323
En este episodio, Miguel conversa con María Sánchez , una profesional con un impacto notable en la formación de analistas de conducta en España y Latinoamérica. La charla gira en torno al Behavioral Skills Training (BST) o Entrenamiento de Habilidades Conductuales: qué es, cómo se aplica en la práctica y por qué sigue siendo una de las herramientas más efectivas para entrenar tanto a profesionales como a familias. María comparte su recorrido profesional, que comienza en Inglaterra en un centro p...
Jan 27, 2026•44 min•Ep. 322
In this episode, I'm joined by John Guercio for a wide-ranging and practical conversation about leadership through a behavioral lens. John and I dig into what it actually means to lead in applied behavior analysis, especially when so much of the existing leadership literature is vague, mentalistic, or disconnected from observable behavior. We start by talking about the need to operationalize leadership in behavioral terms and explore the four leadership hats developed by Dr. Paulie Gavoni : lead...
Jan 15, 2026•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 321
In Session 320, I sit down with Landon Cowan and Tiffany Kodak to talk about an area of behavior analysis that doesn't get nearly enough attention: professional (or "soft") skills. We spend a lot of time in our field teaching and refining technical, clinical, or "hard" skills—and for good reason. But far less time is devoted to the interpersonal, communication, and problem-solving skills that ultimately determine how effective we are as clinicians, supervisors, and collaborators. In this convers...
Jan 07, 2026•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 320
Don't adjust your podcast player folks, you have the right show. Welcome to Session 319 of the Behavioral Observations Podcast. If you've been listening for a bit, you know what's coming. If you're new to the show however, first, welcome and thanks for listening. Every year, I team up with my friends from the ABA Inside Track Podcast to do a Year In Review episode. We've tinkered with the format over time, but for this one, we talk briefly about the trends and issues that we thought were importa...
Dec 31, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 319
In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Sarah Frampton , who conducts research on, amongst other things, improving how we teach, learn, and organize information using behavior-analytic strategies. We explore her career journey, her research on graphic organizers and the Cover, Copy, Compare (CCC) strategy, and the broader implications for stimulus equivalence, educational technology, and effective teaching. In This Episode, You'll Learn: How Sarah's unconventional path led her from economics and ps...
Dec 10, 2025•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 318
In Session 317, I sit down with Dr. Francesca Delia Espinoza to revisit one of the most foundational—but often misunderstood—topics in behavior analysis: eye contact. We explore why eye contact shouldn't be treated as a simple objective, but instead understood within its broader social and developmental context. Francesca explains how eye contact is better re-framed as "eye-looking," and why behavior analysts need a strong conceptual foundation for evaluating when, how, and why to teach it. We d...
Nov 29, 2025•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 317
Episode Overview In this special episode of the Behavioral Observations Podcast, I had the honor of celebrating the 25th installment of the Inside JABA Series . This one was particularly meaningful because it also marks the final appearance of Dr. John Borrero in his role as Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis . I invited John to reflect on his three-year tenure—what he learned from reading an enormous volume of manuscripts, how his thinking evolved, and why adapting our ...
Nov 19, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 316
Thanks for joining me in Session 315 of The Behavioral Observations Podcast . In this episode, I spoke with Drs. Gabi Morgan and David Adams to dive deep into trauma-informed behavior analysis. Gabi brings her 30-year journey in the field—from undergrad roots to professorship at Bay Path University —while David shares his evolution from child and family therapy to clinical psychology, with a heavy focus on foster and adoptive parenting. Both guests are passionate about closing the divide between...
Oct 31, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 315
If you follow Behavioral Observations on Instagram , you might recall that I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel to the 20th Annual Hawaii Association for Behavior Analysis conference to give the closing Keynote Address. I could devote an entire podcast episode to talking about all the wonderful people I met, the fun experiences I had, and the amazing sights I was able to take in. One of the biggest highlights though, was the opportunity to sneak in the following conversation I had ...
Oct 25, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 314
In Session 313, Dr. Cody Morris from Salve Regina University , and the newly re-launched All Things Behavior podcast (please also see The BAPcast Podcast ), joins me to dive into a topic that has merited quite a bit of discussion in Applied Behavior Analysis. These days, you pretty much have to be living under a rock in ABA circles to not have noticed the increased focus on assent practices in treatment programming. Cody is one of the preeminent authorities on this topic, and in this episode, we...
Oct 13, 2025•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 313
In this episode of The Behavioral Observations Podcast , I talk with Grant Sickle , former Amazon product leader and current head of product at Frontera , a company building AI-powered platforms to improve autism care. Grant shares how his team is developing assessment and diagnostic tools to shorten waitlists, streamline reporting, and support clinicians in delivering more efficient ABA therapy. We also discuss how Frontera's digital phenotyping app enables HIPAA-compliant behavior tracking, pa...
Sep 25, 2025•44 min•Ep. 312
In Session 311, I sit down with Christina Nylander and Leah Hussain from Apollo Behavior to talk about culturally sensitive approaches to Autism intervention. We dive into three case studies that show how flexible, individualized care can make a huge difference in building the rapport that's so important in our clinical work. Along the way, we share strategies for gaining parent buy-in, supporting bilingual language development, and using AAC devices to help children communicate more effectively...
Sep 17, 2025•51 min•Ep. 311
In this episode of the Inside JABA Series podcast, we dive into a fascinating discussion on health-related routines for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Dr. Katie McHugh, Dr. Claudia Dozier, and Editor-in-Chief Dr. John Borrero share insights from their recent study, Synchronous Reinforcement Schedules Promote Tolerance of Health-Related Routines for Adults with Disabilities . The conversation explores how synchronous reinforcement schedules—where reinforcement occu...
Aug 28, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 310
In Session 309, I welcome Dr. Lyndsy Coffield, Director of Client Success at Apollo Behavior , to share her unique journey in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and her groundbreaking work training law enforcement officers on autism awareness. Dr. Coffield's path into ABA began with an undergraduate degree in speech pathology, later becoming an RBT and eventually a BCBA. Today, she oversees intake and marketing at a growing clinic network in Georgia while also dedicating her research t...
Aug 20, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 309
Episode Overview In this episode, sleep expert Emily Varon returns to the Behavioral Observations Podcast to share her deep expertise in sleep improvement—especially within the autism community. Drawing from 15 years of experience, Emily emphasizes personalized approaches, the role of wearable technology, and the importance of sensitivity when discussing sleep challenges with families. She also discusses new research on screen time and its true impact on sleep latency, offering insights that can...
Aug 12, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 308
In this episode of the Behavioral Observations Podcast, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Brady Phelps , about a topic that has perplexed, and perhaps captivated both mainstream Psychology as well as pop culture: Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Our wide-ranging conversation explored the intersection of behavior analysis, mental health, and trauma, with a special focus on how we can understand DID through a scientific, behavioral lens. Brady's Career Journey Brady shared how he discov...
Jul 26, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 307
Dr. John Guercio returns to the Behavioral Observations Podcast for his third appearance, bringing his extensive experience and fresh insights into the world of adult services in behavior analysis. In this episode, John and Matt discuss the vital, yet often overlooked, field of supporting adults with autism and other developmental disabilities—particularly those with severe behavioral challenges. They explore: John's new leadership role at The Arc of the Ozarks The Applied Behavior Analysis Cent...
Jul 18, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 306
En este episodio, conversamos con el Dr. José Alberto Monseco Gómez —analista de conducta, BCBA® e IBA®— sobre un proceso fascinante, aunque poco comprendido aún por muchos analistas de conducta, en la adquisición del lenguaje: el naming bidireccional . A través de una charla accesible y llena de ejemplos, exploramos qué es el naming, cómo se relaciona con conceptos fundamentales del análisis de conducta, y por qué su presencia (o ausencia) puede marcar una diferencia sustancial en el desarrollo...
Jul 15, 2025•57 min•Ep. 305
Welcome back to the Inside JABA series—this is Episode 23, and it's a must-listen for anyone interested in using Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to improve safety in school settings. In this episode, Dr. Jeannie Donaldson and Gabriela Gomes join Dr. John Borrero and me to discuss the paper, " Effects of differential reinforcement and time-out on the unsafe playground behavior of young children " (note: first author, Elizabeth Linton unfortunately was not able to join us). 🎯 What You'll Learn in...
Jul 01, 2025•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 304
Michal Pollack joined me to discuss how she uses her training in Behavior Analysis to help her with her personal health and fitness goals. Michal is a Clinical Director at Apollo Behavior . In this episode, we talk about: How she got her start in Applied Behavior Analysis. How she found her way to Apollo, and what she enjoys about working there. How she realized that getting fit doesn't require playing team sports, or being an athlete more generally. How spending time abroad during a gap year mo...
Jun 24, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 303
Behavior Analysis Meets Artificial Intelligence In the second installment of Behavioral Observations' Frontera Series on AI , I had the pleasure of speaking with Sydney Holmes , a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and master's level psychologist. Sydney is also the Clinical Product Lead at Frontera , where she's helping bridge the gap between behavior analysis and artificial intelligence in some really exciting ways. Did you miss the first Frontera Series interview with CEO and Founder, Amol Desh...
Jun 12, 2025•42 min•Ep. 302
