Dr. Derek Reed joins me today to discuss the behavioral economic principles that underpin so much of what we're seeing today as the world attempts to cope with the Coronavirus pandemic. From buying all the toilet paper in sight, to heeding (or more to the point, not heeding) government guidelines for social distancing, Derek relates these behavioral patterns to some very basic operant principles. We start the show with a quick overview of three key behavioral economic terms: Delay Discounting, P...
Mar 19, 2020•1 hr 16 min•Ep 113•Transcript available on Metacast A few weeks ago, I sat down with Kelle Rich, founder of the Central Texas Autism Center , to discuss a handful of topics, one if which being the upcoming Verbal Behavior Conference . If you've tuned into the last few episodes, you've likely heard me talk about this event. At the time of our conversation, the Coronavirus was just coming onto the nation's radar screen, but the "plan" was to go ahead with the event, which was scheduled to take place in Austin, Texas, unless conditions changed. Well...
Mar 17, 2020•1 hr 16 min•Ep 112•Transcript available on Metacast Almost from the outset of the podcast, people have been asking me to get Steve Ward on the show. If you're not familiar with Steve, he is the co-founder of Whole Child Consulting , and co-author of The Inventory of Good Learner Repertoires (amongst many other books). In this episode, Steve and I talk about his paper that discusses the role of humor in behavioral interventions. We also talk about his concept of "task as reinforcer," and then digress into helping kids who present with oppositional...
Mar 13, 2020•1 hr 23 min•Ep 111•Transcript available on Metacast Rebecca Womack , who is the Director of Clinical Compliance at BlueSprig Autism joins me in Session 101 to provide an overview of the importance of pinpointing and analyzing Key Performance Indicators, or, KPI's for short. At first glance, this may seem like a topic that is about as exciting as doing your taxes. However, when we dove into this subject, my inner nerd was engaged, and I started thinking about how I could use this concept in all aspects of what I do. I guarantee that even if you do...
Feb 27, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hey Everyone, welcome to session 109 of The Behavioral Observations Podcast! I’m joined by multiple-time guest, Dr. Pat McGreevy. We talk about what he’s been up to lately, how to support learners who have barriers in communication, implementing Essential for Living in public school settings, why he prefers working with non-behavior analysts… and we end with a fun and poignant story about Pat’s mentor, Ogden Lindsley. We also spend some time discussing the upcoming Verbal Behavior Conference . I...
Feb 18, 2020•49 min•Ep 109•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. Kendra Newsome joins me in Session 108. Our original plan was to discuss how FitLearning is incorporating ACT and other mindfulness based activities with their learners. And talk about that we did. However, we went down quite a few interesting and unexpected rabbit holes along the way. The sidebar that was of most interest to me was our discussion on how they run staff meetings. I'm sure you're thinking to yourself, "how can staff meetings be interesting?" Well, it sounds like the FitLearnin...
Feb 11, 2020•1 hr 22 min•Ep 108•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. Emily Sandoz joins me in Session 107 to talk about her work in ACT and Clinical Behavior Analysis. I found this conversation really fascinating as she shares how she helps people in talk-therapy contexts - a setting that most listeners do not practice in. Going into this interview, I assumed we'd get deep into the ACT Hexaflex Processes, but we ended up dispensing with a lot of the common, "mid-level terms," of ACT, and instead focused on the functional analysis of verbal behavior in the con...
Jan 29, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Ep 107•Transcript available on Metacast If you missed the first installment of the Inside JABA Series, let me explain what’s going on here: Once a quarter, I’ll be joined by Drs. Linda Leblanc, Clair St. Peter, and Jeff Tiger to discuss the latest issue of The Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. The goal is to highlight a paper or theme from the issue, and give you a behind-the-scenes look at what went into that piece of research, how it may or may not have changed during the review process, and what the practical implications that ...
Jan 23, 2020•57 min•Ep 106•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. Nick Green from BehaviorFit joins me in Session 105 to discuss my plans to shed a few pounds in 2020. If you’re like me, you may have put on a little weight over the holidays. In my case, I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to take my family to France to stay with my oldest friend (an ex-pat who has been living there for the past 20 years or so). As such, the normal workout routine fell by the wayside, while at the same time, cheese and bread were consumed in great quantities! This was on...
Jan 13, 2020•2 hr 37 min•Ep 105•Transcript available on Metacast My friends at ABA Inside Track - Rob, Diana, and Jackie - invited me back for another Year-in-Review episode. I've enjoyed getting to know these guys over the last few years, and doing an episode like this seems like it's a fun tradition-in-the-making. So what did we talk about? Well, it seems like 2019 was the year of the ABA podcast. So many shows were launched that it's hard to keep track of. In addition to Behavioral Observations, I've listed all the currently published ABA shows below, and ...
Dec 25, 2019•1 hr 26 min•Ep 104•Transcript available on Metacast Welcome to Session 103 of The Behavioral Observations Podcast! What you’re about to hear is my follow up interview with Dr. Kim Berens from Fit Learning. I spoke with her way back in Session 44 , which went out in January of 2018. This interview was conducted at the First Annual Tate Behavioral Conference, which was held in Springfield, Massachusetts, back in October of 2019. As an aside, during the interview itself, I reference our location as Springfield, New Hampshire… which was probably stuc...
Dec 12, 2019•1 hr 9 min•Ep 103•Transcript available on Metacast Several weeks ago, Greg Hanley reached out to me and asked if he could help do something to commemorate the 100 th episode of the show. Specifically, he invited me down to the offices of FTF Behavioral Consulting in Worcester, Mass to hang out with all the amazing behavior analysts he works with for the afternoon. During the visit, Greg turned the tables on me and put me in the interview hot seat. He asked me some really good questions about the podcast, and what I’ve learned from doing it over ...
Dec 07, 2019•53 min•Ep 100•Transcript available on Metacast Welcome to the first installment of The Inside JABA Series. A few months ago, Drs. Linda LeBlanc and Dorothea Lerman approached me about creating an ongoing podcast series that highlights and disseminates the work of The Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. The goal of this series is to give listeners a better idea as to what goes into the studies that end up being published in JABA, and to provide a behind-the-scenes look at how a research study goes from inspiration, to execution, to submissi...
Nov 26, 2019•2 hr 55 min•Ep 102•Transcript available on Metacast In Session 101, Dr. Missy Olive and I talk about a topic that's near and dear to my heart: consulting in public school settings. Long-time listeners will recall that I did an episode on this topic in January of 2019. Since then, I've received numerous listener requests to return to this important issue. My colleague Jen Farris saw Missy speak at a conference a few months ago, and insisted that I reach out to her to get her on the show, and I'm grateful for the recommendation, as this episode is ...
Nov 22, 2019•2 hr 41 min•Ep 102•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. David Cox joins me in Session 99 to discuss the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, Behavioral Pharmacology, the use of Psilocybin Mushrooms for the treatment of various behavioral health challenges, and much, much more! David does a fine job describing his backstory, but if you're impatient like me, here is his bio from Research Gate: David has been working clinically in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) since 2006. He has worked with children, adolescents, and adults with diagnoses ranging fr...
Nov 08, 2019•1 hr 29 min•Ep 99•Transcript available on Metacast What does Private Equity investment, diversity in Applied Behavior Analysis, and Behavior Analysis as applied to sports all have in common? It just so happens that these are the topics I chatted about with Beverly and Kirk Kirby of Team ABA! At last year's ABAI, Rick Kubina introduced me to this dynamic duo, and boy do they have a great story to tell, and I'm frankly quite grateful that they're doing so on The Behavioral Observations Podcast. Along with Rick and Mark Dixon, Beverly was on a pane...
Oct 30, 2019•2 hr 36 min•Ep 98•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. Becca Tagg, PsyD, MSCP, NCSP, BCBA-D, joins me in Session 97 to discuss the pros and cons to starting your own ABA practice. Becca owns and operates The Del Mar Center for Behavioral Health in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and produces and hosts The Business of Behavior Podcast. Becca also founded The ABA Business Builders Facebook Group, which, as of this writing, has almost 8,800 members. So it is with her vast experience in mind that I wanted to have her on the show to talk about her expe...
Oct 16, 2019•1 hr 19 min•Ep 97•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. Joe Parks, the Medical Director of the National Council for Behavioral Health, joins me in Session 96 to discuss mass shootings - a topic that was first talked about on this podcast back in Session 79, with Dr. Merrill Winston. It turns out that the National Council's Medical Directors Institute was wrapping up a lengthy report, titled Mass Violence in America, around the same time that Merrill's episode aired. As such, the council graciously offered to have Dr. Parks joins me to discuss the...
Oct 01, 2019•51 min•Ep 96•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. Lauren Kryzak and Celia Heyman are on the podcast to discuss the ever-important topic of Supervision! Last spring, this dynamic duo presented a fantastic workshop on supervision at the New Jersey ABA conference, and they are here today to share some of the highlights of their approach to mentoring would-be BCBA’s.If this sounds like something you want to learn more about, they’ll be reprising this workshop at the upcoming Autism NJ conference, which is taking place on October 17th and 18th. ...
Sep 28, 2019•1 hr 14 min•Ep 95•Transcript available on Metacast Greg Hanley - the most popular Behavioral Observations guest by quite a bit - returns to the show for a fourth time, and this may be my favorite conversation with him yet! In this episode, we talk about the following: Why he started his new consultancy, FTF Behavioral Consulting, How he arrived at the decision to leave his academic post at Western New England University, Why he chose to "re-brand" the IISCA approach - which he now refers to as Practical Functional Assessment, How the PFA model h...
Sep 16, 2019•2 hr 3 min•Ep 94•Transcript available on Metacast I’m thrilled to bring back Dr. Rick Kubina of Central Reach and the University of Pennsylvania. It’s been quite a while since he was first on the podcast, so we spend the initial segment of the program catching up on some exciting things that he’s been involved with. Specifically, we discuss his triumphant return to podcasting with his brand new show, ABA on Call, and we also discuss the acquisition of Chartlytics, the company he co-founded with Dave Stevens, by Central Reach. Rick and I spend t...
Sep 06, 2019•1 hr 18 min•Ep 93•Transcript available on Metacast Steve Hayes returns to discuss all things ACT, RFT, and his new book, A Liberated Mind: How to Pivot to What Really Matters. We begin the show with a quick tutorial of sorts on Relational Frame Theory, as well as it’s relationship with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. We then spend quite a bit of time discussing the use of ACT in the context of preventing and responding to staff burnout. We also discuss managing “difficult people,” optimizing staff performance, and other aspects of management ...
Aug 21, 2019•1 hr 27 min•Ep 92•Transcript available on Metacast When I first interviewed Chuck Merbitz, he informed me that he had cancer, and that his case was terminal. You wouldn’t know that by listing to the conversation though. One of the things that struck me about that episode was just how positive Chuck was. The day after he passed away, I re-listened to the interview, and found so many nuggets of wise advice that had forgotten about. I suppose the main takeaway to this episode was the importance of working well with people outside of our field. So w...
Aug 15, 2019•1 hr 22 min•Ep 91•Transcript available on Metacast If you're looking to improve your supervision practices, this is the podcast for you! In Session 90, I'm joined by Dr. Zahra Hajiaghamohseni, who recently wrapped up her dissertation on this topic. Here's a short excerpt from her dissertation's abstract: The purpose of my study was to examine the supervision practices of BCBA/BCBA-D who supervise precertification candidates and to determine if there were any statistically significant differences between supervisor demographics and supervision pr...
Aug 08, 2019•2 hr 30 min•Ep 90•Transcript available on Metacast My guest for Session 89 was actually the first non-behavior analyst on the Behavioral Observations Podcast. It's true! Way back in Session 15, Rich Brooks joined me to provide what was essentially a Digital Marketing 101 class. He’s back today – over 2 years later, to give us an update on digital marketing trends for 2019. In this episode we cover: Why you should pay attention to Google Analytics (and perhaps begin looking at Google Data Studio) Considerations for advertising on Google and Faceb...
Jul 23, 2019•1 hr 3 min•Ep 89•Transcript available on Metacast What does Supervision, Fire Safety, and Robots have to do with one another? And what does "Skinner as the Bad Boy," mean? Well, fortunately, Dr. Ellie Kazemi, Professor of Psychology at Cal State Northridge, joins me in Session 88 to sort this all out. I met Ellie at the 2018 Hoosier ABA conference, where she instantly became one of my favorite people in the field. In Session 88, Ellie describes how she happened upon Behavior Analysis well after pursuing Psychology as a chosen field, how she's f...
Jul 02, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Ep 88•Transcript available on Metacast In Session 87 Dr. Merrill Winston joins me to talk about the use of restraints and seclusion in the context of supporting individuals who exhibit unsafe behaviors. Merrill is the Vice President and Director of Program Development of the Professional Crisis Management Association. If you're not familiar with him, I've included his bio right here: In addition to being a PCMA trainer, Merrill specializes in the analysis and treatment of severe behavior disorders with special populations. His range ...
Jun 12, 2019•2 hr 5 min•Ep 87•Transcript available on Metacast The demands of being a Behavior Analyst can seem never-ending. Throw in parenting, relationships, finances, personal health/wellness, etc..., and things get overwhelming in a real hurry. Hashing it out at the ABAI bar In Session 86, I chat with Kristen Lancaster and Jonathan Tarbox about this whole work/life balance thing. They share some personal stories about how they've managed to not only survive, but thrive in the face of the challenges of the modern world. This conversation was recorded in...
Jun 06, 2019•46 min•Ep 86•Transcript available on Metacast My guest today is Dr. Kerri Milyko, who is the owner of The Precision Teaching Learning Center in Tampa, FL as well as The Learning Consultants in Reno, Nevada. As you'll figure out right away, Kerri is Capital-P passionate about all things Precision Teaching. In this episode, she shares how she first got "the bug" at the University of Florida, and then continues on about how she's using PT today to help children with learning and behavioral challenges. In to providing services to children, Kerr...
May 20, 2019•2 hr 12 min•Ep 85•Transcript available on Metacast In session 84, Dr. Luis Morales Knight joins me to talk about his work as a Clinical Psychologist, which, as you may have guessed from the title of this episode, involves a lot of parent training and coaching. Although Luis jokes that he's not a "real Behavior Analyst," trust me, he's one of us. He is the co-founder of the Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Center in Ocean County, California. In addition to completing a clinical psych graduate program at the University of Nebraska Medical Ce...
May 06, 2019•2 hr 36 min•Ep 84•Transcript available on Metacast 
