Through our ABA education, we learned a lot about rules and procedures around behavior management. However, sometimes rigid traditional methods fail to work, and we need to turn to an empathetic, person-centered approach instead. Acknowledging how our learners are feeling in the moment can sometimes be far more effective than trying to push ahead. Here, we discuss how the person-centered approach works. The beauty of a person-centered approach is that it holds space for our learners while still ...
May 07, 2024•17 min•Ep. 149
Here at How to ABA, we get a lot of questions regarding Hanley’s approach to tolerance and delay. We’ve created our own user-friendly data sheet based on Hanley’s course that you can download and reuse. Here, we walk through our data sheet and show you how to use it in your practice. We also provide tips to help you and your learners have a successful treatment experience. Our membership space contains this form as well as many others. Head to the website below to check it out! What’s Inside: A ...
Apr 30, 2024•11 min•Ep. 148
David Celiberti, Ph.D., BCBA, is the part time Executive Director of the Association for Science in Autism Treatment (ASAT) and Past-President of its Board of Directors, a role he served from 2006 to 2012. He is the Co-Editor of ASAT’s newsletter, Science in Autism Treatment. Dr. Celiberti has served on a number of advisory boards and special interest groups in the fields of autism, applied behavior analysis, and early childhood education. Dr. Celiberti has also taught courses related to applied...
Apr 23, 2024•33 min•Ep. 147
Extinction is a buzzword we hear frequently in the world of ABA; however, what does it truly mean? Many people may think extinction is the same thing as ignoring, which is a misuse and misunderstanding. Extinction really means to stop providing reinforcement where it once was. It does not mean ignoring or following through on demands in spite of what else may be going on with our learners. Here, we discuss different ways to extinguish behaviors and use examples like sleep and potty training. We ...
Apr 16, 2024•21 min•Ep. 146
For learners who can understand delayed reinforcement, we often use behavior contracts. These tools can be a great way to help learners understand and integrate those unwritten rules we see in places like school and the workplace. Behavior contracts are also a form of agreement between practitioners and learners, or even parents and children. Here, we define behavior contracts and talk about when they’re typically put into place. We discuss the positives of behavior contracts, including how they...
Apr 09, 2024•18 min•Ep. 145
Life skills are critical to a learner becoming independent. Here, we cover why teaching life skills is important and how we can do it effectively. Life skills include executive functioning skills, personal care, daily living skills, occupational skills, and so much more. The ability of an individual to enhance their life skills has a direct impact on their quality of life as they grow into adulthood. We discuss the importance of making sure learners can achieve life skills without the presence o...
Apr 02, 2024•12 min•Ep. 144
As ABA practitioners, we use a lot of datasheets. It can be tough to know which ones to use in specific situations, and here, we break things down. Data is only as helpful as how we use it, and datasheets can be as basic as simply writing things down. Datasheets should reflect the environment they’re used in, for example, a classroom datasheet will look much different than one used in a one-on-one. It’s important to look at who the end user is to ensure the datasheets are the most useful. Teachi...
Mar 26, 2024•24 min•Ep. 143
Iveth Aguilar is a BCBA and women’s empowerment coach. She’s the founder of Empower Her, a coaching program that helps women to stop settling, overcome fear and insecurities, heal scarcity mindsets, and cultivate the confidence to step fully into their power. Iveth combines nervous system regulation and embodiment practices with ABA for a holistic approach to true and sustainable empowerment. Here, Iveth shares how she works with ABA beyond its traditional use and how her approach helps her clie...
Mar 19, 2024•25 min•Ep. 142
Annie McLaughlin is a BCBA and IEP advocate. Annie started her career as a special education teacher, where she met a consultant who introduced her to behavioral analysis. From there, she went back to school for her BCBA and got her doctorate in special education. Down the road, she received the opportunity to assist a family navigate the special ed process and became inspired to start a career as a full-time IEP advocate. Here, Annie shares the specifics of how she helps the families she works ...
Mar 12, 2024•29 min•Ep. 141
Payam Moghaddam and Shadi Hortamani are the founders of Behaview, a staff training and supervision solution for ABA providers. Behaview simplifies staff training and supervision for BCBAs with its comprehensive scheduling, remote supervision, data tracking, individualized progress reports, and BCBA fieldwork tracking. Behaview is built with ABA’s unique needs of data collection, supervision, and staff training in mind. All of this allows practitioners to achieve better results, with less effort....
Mar 05, 2024•30 min•Ep. 140
It can be tough for our learners to understand what they may have done wrong and how they can do it better. One of the best ways to guide them is with a contingency map. Here, we walk through the ins and outs of ABA contingency maps and how to utilize them in practice. We often use contingency maps in two ways: as a reflection of something that happened in the past and as a way of priming for something that could happen in the future. Using a map gives our students a visual of their options. We ...
Feb 27, 2024•11 min•Ep. 139
Steve Ward is back on the show, along with his co-authors, Madelyn Vickery and April Dyal. They’re coming out with their most recent book, which includes over 2,100 inexpensive ideas for play and intrinsic motivation. Steve is the founder of Whole Child Consulting, and his work is mainly focused on social repertoires and shaping behaviors. We recently received a question in our mentorship group regarding what to do with a child who doesn’t like any of the reinforcers or motivators we provide, an...
Feb 20, 2024•30 min•Ep. 138
Parents are always the experts when it comes to their kids. We get a lot of questions around parent training and how to best approach it, and here we’re sharing some tips and best practices. As professionals, we need to remember to take the parent’s perspective and acknowledge their busy lifestyles and challenges. Although we went to school for many years to master our careers, the concepts we teach are often foreign to parents, so it helps to speak in layman’s terms. We discuss how to establish...
Feb 13, 2024•17 min•Ep. 137
As practitioners, we often learn to use assessments to help plan our programs. However, we can also miss the big picture. Here, we’re diving into how to use practical programs with our learners. Kids are multi-faceted and while assessments can be helpful, they can also prevent us from tailoring programs to each unique individual. We cover some of the different ways we can get caught up in the details and how to teach more dynamically. One challenge with using assessments is that they break out s...
Feb 06, 2024•14 min•Ep. 136
Our community offers a private place for you to chat with other practitioners and share what's working and what's not working. Here, we’re giving you an inside look into one of our mentorship meetings for our Pro Members. Each meeting is jam-packed full of helpful tips for ABA professionals. In this session, we spent time answering questions on a wide range of topics, including: How to transition into a BCBA role on the school side A review of ABA assessments How to build trust with families and...
Jan 30, 2024•17 min•Ep. 135
Although shaping is a basic concept in ABA, it’s often overlooked when creating behavior plans. Here, we discuss how to use shaping when teaching our learners important skills. Shaping is a key element in our toolbox as practitioners, and it’s really underrated. We often look to reinforcement as our go-to, but we forget to break the skill down into small components to avoid challenging behaviors. Our conversation includes some examples of how to use shaping, starting with verbal imitation and vo...
Jan 23, 2024•11 min•Ep. 134
When you hear the term “BST model,” what comes to mind? Typically, we think of staff training or social skills, but in ABA, we can use it for so much more. Here, we cover the various applications of behavioral skills training in more detail. The more you can practice a scenario in a calm, relaxed environment, the better prepared you are to handle it when it comes up in real life. We discuss the four distinct parts of BST: instruction, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback. We sometimes forget how va...
Jan 16, 2024•11 min•Ep. 133
One of the first things we teach our learners is requesting, or manding. As ABA professionals, it’s important to know why teaching manding is important as well as the best ways to do it, especially with beginner learners. If you’ve ever traveled to another country that doesn’t speak your language, the first thing you’ll want to learn is how to get your basic needs met. Teaching manding is similar in this way, and here we dive into how to best approach it. Teaching requesting leads to further exp...
Jan 09, 2024•24 min•Ep. 132
Starting a small business in ABA can be a challenge. Here, we provide useful tips to reduce overwhelm and make the process run smoothly. Many of us spend the majority of our ABA education learning job-related skills, but we’re not always equipped with the business knowledge needed to run our own clinics. Owning a business is stressful at times, but it’s also extremely rewarding to be your own boss. Business owners are often short on time and wear many hats, but it pays to be organized and delega...
Jan 02, 2024•19 min•Ep. 131
2023 was an awesome year full of amazing experiences. As we close out the year, we wanted to share everything How to ABA has done through a year in review. One of the most significant things we did was launch our Bx Blueprint, which is a series of videos for paraprofessionals and RBTS. It’s 20 hours of content and it’s perfect for RBTs looking for extra certification for their jobs. It’s also great for onboarding staff and helping them get acclimated to their roles. One of our major goals at How...
Dec 26, 2023•17 min•Ep. 130
As BCBAs, part of our job is to target challenging behavior. Here, we discuss how to do so in a compassionate way so that our learners feel safe. Sometimes, our learners just need our empathy and support after a rough day. As behavior analysts, we have to shift our focus from a follow-through perspective to how to best support those we work with. The best solutions to challenging problems often come from providing a safe, welcoming environment. Having a trauma-informed approach is key, and pushi...
Dec 19, 2023•14 min•Ep. 129
Morgan van Diepen is the founder of ABA Visualized, a company whose goal is to make behavioral expertise approachable, accessible, and relatable. As a BCBA working abroad and then with the vibrant international community in Los Angeles, Morgan quickly developed a passion for supporting under-serviced families. She realized the recurring barriers affecting these communities and limiting their access to effective behavioral expertise: long waitlists to learn from expert service providers and an ab...
Dec 12, 2023•28 min•Ep. 128
Students aren’t always intrinsically motivated in the classroom. It’s important to include some type of reinforcement for these students to motivate them and encourage more positive behaviors. One of the most common objections we get from teachers is that reinforcement isn’t needed, but there will always be those few learners who have challenges or just can’t keep up. An extra push to get through the day helps those who might be too tired or unmotivated. Another objection is that classroom reinf...
Dec 05, 2023•27 min•Ep. 127
As ABA practitioners, we’re familiar with the terminology of FFCs, which stands for feature, function, and class. Here, we dive into what comes after we teach FFCs and how to assist learners who have a hard time with those “WH” questions. In many cases, we simply teach learners to memorize responses to these questions, but they don’t actually understand what they mean. When we then start to mix and vary questions, it sometimes causes confusion. We discuss how language develops, the importance of...
Nov 28, 2023•14 min•Ep. 126
The holidays are fast approaching and we’re starting to plan for the upcoming busy season. Parties and gatherings with a lot of people can be stressful and overwhelming for many of our learners. Here, we dive into ways we can help decrease stress throughout the holiday season. The first thing we discuss is how to use a visual schedule. The unpredictable nature of the holidays can really throw off a child’s routine. A schedule provides structure and having it in visual form keeps things front and...
Nov 21, 2023•15 min•Ep. 125
Chris Collins is the Executive Director of Ability to Include, and he joins us here for a chat about what he’s been up to in the field. Since the last time we spoke to Chris, he’s expanded his business ventures. Today, he’s focused on social skills within team sports. As an RBT, Chris coached soccer and realized there was room for ABA strategies on and off the field. Currently, Chris works with a variety of different children, including those on the spectrum. Chris shares insights into inclusion...
Nov 14, 2023•21 min•Ep. 124
In the past, we’ve touched on how to teach basic social skills . However, with some learners, we have to go beyond simple contingency management and reinforcement techniques. We’ve been exploring how to teach social skills using ACT – Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. ACT is rooted in Relational Frame Theory (RFT), which you may be familiar with as a BCBA. When we teach using ACT, we can build skills that require indirect experiences and abstract thought. We can also build psychological flexibi...
Nov 07, 2023•16 min•Ep. 123
Working with clients is just one part of our jobs as ABA professionals. Another important part is communicating with supervisors, parents, co-workers, and other stakeholders we interact with day to day. Here, we’re covering all things related to professional communication and feedback. Communication isn’t always easy, especially when it involves an emergency or a program that is not working. When it comes to working as an RBT, sometimes you’ll know a learner better than the BCBA, and it’s your r...
Oct 31, 2023•18 min•Ep. 122
Being a fantastic ABA instructor goes way beyond the duties listed in the job description. Here, we cover the qualities that help you move from good to great. The first thing on the list is forming strong relationships. Really engaging with parents and kids and what motivates our students goes a long way. Showing empathy and being compassionate go hand in hand with being professional. As an ABA therapist, you also want to show you’re committed to learning and developing healthy coping strategies...
Oct 24, 2023•13 min•Ep. 121
Social stories, or social narratives, are a great tool to use in ABA. However, there’s no documented evidence to suggest they eliminate negative behavior. Here, we discuss why we still use social stories and how to utilize them correctly. In ABA, we typically use social stories as a piece of a larger treatment puzzle. It’s important to note that social stories by themselves don’t eliminate behaviors or teach skills. However, when paired with other interventions, they are effective. We share some...
Oct 17, 2023•9 min•Ep. 120
