ABA Inside Track

We all love token economies. The Sponge Bob stickers, the laminated construction paper backing. But, how do they actually work? Something about conditioned reinforcers, right? This week Dr. Jason Bourret joins us for a peek under the hood of token economies to give us some guidance into their inner workings and ways to effectively troubleshoot their usage. This episode is available for 1.0 LEARNIN...

No one seems to like March. Fortunately, we'll make up for the generally dull end of winter/beginning of spring with four whole episodes of scintillating podcasts. We're joined by Dr. Jason Bourret to take us under the hood on how token economies actually work (and when they don't). We review the research and discuss the application of the interrupted behavior chain procedure and best practices in...

Please enjoy this short preview of our full-length, Patreon-exclusive Look Me In the Eye Book Club. Want to hear the rest and earn 2 free CEs? Head over to our Patreon site and subscribe at the $10 or higher level to access this and all of other Book Clubs, plus a bevy of other extras just for patrons. Hope to see you there! It's been nearly a year since we came together to discuss a book that we...

While us 80's kids might have been overly concerned about stranger danger, it doesn't change the fact that child abduction remains a tragic reality, especially for children with disabilities. Fortunately, we have research! This week we review what procedures exist to teach children abduction prevention skills and, more importantly, which ones actually work. This episode is available for 1.0 LEARNI...

As a special bonus, we're sharing the audio from our talk at the Thompson Center for Autism's 2021 Conference . Jackie and Diana run down what's known about practicing a good work-life balance including the barriers to self-care and steps to improve this critical relationship. We hope you enjoy some tips from the field during these continually trying times. Thanks to the Thompson Center for having...

Boy, there sure are a lot of things to learn in a day. But is all content created equal? This week we try to answer that questions with special guest, Dr. Pat McGreevy, by exploring the development of his "Essential for Living" special education curriculum. The only way to know if your favorite subjects made the list is to listen now. Sines and cosines, anyone? This episode is available for 1.0 LE...

This month are hearts are all a-flutter, and it's not just because of our love of crappy NECCO wafers. We're seeing stars about our February topics! We'll be joined by Dr. Patrick McGreevy to discuss the origins and utility of the "Essential for Learning" curriculum followed by a review on the literature regarding teaching abduction prevention skills to children. As a special surprise, we've also...

Given the pressures on us humans these days, there's no question that many of us are feeling increasingly anxious. But when does anxiousness become ANXIETY? This week, Dr. Keira Moore joins us to review a behavioral interpretation of anxiety, how what is typically a mentalistic distinction could be operationally defined, and what this could mean to improve treatment for populations with limited ve...

LIVE from the Inside Track Studio! It's behavioral cusps! Starring: socially valid behavior targets for change, access to more reinforcement than ever before, and beneficial responding for all. Featuring: butterfly and tree metaphors, descriptions of the Christmas gifts we haven't wrapped yet, and herbal tea. Now in color! Originally recorded live for our patrons, here's the full audio recording....

We're starting the new year off by being humble and reflective after a tough year. And what better way to do that than welcome Dr. Nasiah Cirincione-Ulezi to share her research and work in the areas of cultural humility. We review how competence does not equal humility, the pernicious ways that black women have been barred from leadership, and what can be done to break these patterns in the workpl...

Happy New Year! It's got to be better than last year, right? If you listened to our recent bonus episode, you'll have already heard our big news: We're still making podcasts! And we're starting off with some bangers. First, Dr. Cirincione-Ulezi discusses development of cultural humility and barriers to leadership in ABA for black women. Then, for those who missed it, our live recording on behavior...

Once again, our pal, Matt Cicoria, from the Behavioral Observations podcast joins us to sum up the biggest goings on in the field of behavior analysis throughout the long, dark year that was 2021.  And then we decided to ignore all of the prepared topics and just engage in some off-track discussions on what we've been doing to make it to 2022.  Think of it as our own self-care through podcasting.

While waiting for more marshmallows could correlate to a brighter future, self-control may not be everything it's cracked up to be. This week we look at research on the subject to find out whether clinicians can effectively teach a delay to gratification and, more importantly, if we should. Plus, a board game review from Rob! This episode is available for 1.0 LEARNING CEU. Articles discussed this...

In the latest in our professional collaboration series, we're joined with Dr. Michael Roberts, occupational therapist extrordinaire, to get to the bottom of the BCBA-OT practitioner divide. We have an illuminating time reviewing where BCBA's misunderstand OTs, OTs misunderstand BCBAs, and how much common ground both fields actually have. Guess you'll be the judge if this episode turned out to be o...

Because Jackie could no longer stand references to her "mind file", we decided to come up with a behavior analytic way to discuss memories. And who would be better to do that than the man with the biggest mind file on the subject, Dr. David Palmer! This week we discuss the ways that most memory models fail and how memory as behavior can be interpreted in what we think is an excellent addendum to t...

Please enjoy this short preview of our full-length, Patreon-exclusive Nudge Book Club. Want to hear the rest and earn 2 free CEs? Head over to our Patreon site and subscribe at the $10 or higher level to access this and all of other Book Clubs, plus a bevy of other extras just for patrons. Hope to see you there!   Branching out into the world of behavioral economics, it's our newest Book Club cove...

We're in for a blizzard of content this December as we release 7 whole episodes (counting this one). On the free feed we've got Dr. Dave Palmer talking about memory, Dr. Michael Roberts talking about collaborating with occupational therapists, some hot takes on self-control research, and a year-end wrap up bonus with our podcast pal, Matt Cicoria from Behavioral Observations. And if you haven't jo...

So you're telling me, if I just set some goal above my current performance—maybe even really high above my current performance—I'll just suddenly improve? And if I pair my goal with feedback, I'll perform even better? There's got to be more to it than just that. Oh, listen to this podcast about goal setting research and learn all you need to know? Ok, that'll be my first goal. This episode is avai...

UNLOCKED from our Patreon page , it's the Meaningful Differences Book Club! Voted on by our patrons in 2020, we discussed "Meaningful Differences" by Hart and Risley.  And here it is: 2+ hours all about this classic, and sometimes controversial, book documenting Betty Hart and Todd Risley's longitudinal study exploring the home lives of 42 families to try to determine why some children develop mor...

If I'm talking to you and you ask me to give you something from me, I know just what to do. But would an autistic child? This week we explore the challenges with personal pronouns, some possible treatment options, and whether or not mixing up your "I's" and "you's" really matters. This episode is available for 1.0 LEARNING CEU Articles discussed this episode: Morgenstern, B.D., Causin, K.G., & Wei...

While we spend a lot of time talking about supervision and the importance of giving good feedback, we haven't always acknowledged that feedback is a two-way street. Dr. Tyra Sellers and Dr. Seth Walker join us this week to remind us that it is important to receive as it is to give. And, just like giving it, receiving feedback isn't something you just pick up in school. Also, does our preference fo...

While we'd hoped to have some footage from our November trip to the Thompson Center for Autism Conference in St. Louis, a Wi-Fi outage sabotaged our plans. So, we're back in the studio to regale you with this month's topics. We're very honored to have double-guest duty by Dr. Tyra Sellers and Dr. Seth Walker giving us feedback about…well, receiving feedback. Then to wrap up the month, two personal...

Hey, everybody, With 2021 wrapping up, we wanted to record a brief minisode to share the word that the ABA Inside Patreon is updated with all sorts of goodies for current and new subscribers to enjoy. We've got new tiers, new rewards, and new goals!   First, we've created a new $3 tier for listeners to gain early access to the weekly feed plus to have the opportunity to vote on future episode topi...

This week our special guest, Dr. Christopher Tullis, joins us to discuss his thorough literature review of preference assessment research. In addition, we take a side-trip to reflect on indices of happiness and review why "happy" isn't such a bad word. Plus, Rob shares his beef with the MSW; only one of them comes out of this episode alive! This episode is available for 1.0 LEARNING CEU. Articles...

For a variety of reasons, classroom management systems aren't always readily adopted in our schools. Could it be because they're too hard to maintain? Or ineffective? This week, we take a look at one such, easy-to-use, simple-to-master system, instructional control. Join us as we review chair choosing, work picking, and data analyzing to get to determine if instructional choice may be right for yo...