Episode description

To say that I enjoyed my conversation with Chuck Merbitz is a colossal understatement. As you will see when you listen to this one, Chuck has a rare combination of humility and wisdom, and he generously shares many lessons learned in his over four decade career in Behavior Analysis.  This is one of our longer episodes, and I promise you it's worth listening to in its entirety! In Session 63, we discuss a wide range of topics that include the following: How to teach recovering alcoholic WWII veterans to get dates and find jobs (but not necessarily in that order!). What the Behavior Analysis scene was like in the early 70s when he began his graduate training. How to be a practitioner who is both pragmatic and compassionate (as well as how to avoid being the "ugly behaviorist!"). How and why he started the ABA program at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. How collecting precise data on both communicative responses AND therapist prompts helped him identify barriers to a learner's progress. And of course, some discussion on the terms frequency and rate in our profession (see link to the Merbitz, Merbitz, & Pennypacker paper below). If you're not familiar with Chuck, you can check out his LinkedIn profile to get a sense of where he's coming from. In brief though, Chuck has had a long and storied career in our field, holding faculty appointments not only at CSPP, but also at the Illinois Institute of Technology, the Northwestern University Medical School, and Jacksonville State University. Chuck is also a pioneer in the development of digital tools for Behavior Analysts. Time did not permit us getting too deep into this part of his career, but I think it will make for a nice follow up interview. We touched on a few papers, and I've done my best to run them down here. Please let me know if there are any that I missed: Johnston & Pennypacker (1971). A behavioral approach to college teaching. Merbitz, Merbitz, & Pennypacker (2016). On terms: Frequency and rate in Applied Behavior Analysis. Merbitz, Miller, & Hansen (2000). Cueing and Logical Problem Solving In Brain Trauma Rehabilitation: Frequency Patterns In Clinician And Patient Behaviors. This episode is sponsored by the following: The Precision ABA Workshop, by Dr. Rick Kubina of Chartlytics. This will be held on November 15th and 16th in Indianapolis, Indiana. This 2-day workshop will guide you through the steps of precision measurement and help you obtain superior ABA outcomes. You will learn evidence-based science and practical techniques that you can implement in your own ABA service delivery. If you're going to attend and want to save 10% on registration, use the coupon code Matt. The Next Gen Revolution Summit, taking place on November 10th & 11th in Las Vegas. Attend in person, or live-stream so you can watch it in your Jammies. If you're interested in seeing talks from instructional luminaries like Janet Tyman and T.V. Joe Layng, hearing what podcast guests Megan Miller and Sara Gershfeld Litvak have to say, or learning about the latest in technological innovations in our field, this is the event for you. If you do decide to attend, use offer code Matt to save 10%. And while not technically a sponsor, if you're in the midwest and want to check out a cool event, consider attending the Hoosier Association for Behavior Analysis' 10th anniversary conference. I've interviewed almost everyone on the speakers' roster, so I know attendees are bound to hear some good stuff. I'll also be doing my first live, in-person podcast with HABA's keynote speaker, Dr. Matthew Normand. It should be a good time had by all, and I hope to see you there!