A 25 Year Look Across the Spectrum with Kelly Bermingham & Jen Lucero

We are baaaaaack! Kelly, BCBA for 21 years, and Jen, mom to Dylan and Ethan talk through the best way to approach doctor's appointments with your autistic child. With nearly 40-80% of autistic individuals having medical co-morbidities, going to the doctor is not for the faint of heart for families. Listen to a caregiver's perspective over the years and how ABA providers can help support th...

Studies show that individuals with ASD have greater medical fears as compared to their peers. Kelly & Jen share their experience, strategies and research related to blood draws from their perspectives with their children who are now fully comfortable and independent in getting their blood drawn after years of stress! Information: ⁠A pilot study to improve venipuncture compliance in children an...

Kelly and Jen do I deep dive into the video, Assume That I Can, released on World Down's Syndrome Day, and talk about how our ethics code, 2.09, Involving Clients and Stakeholders and this video intersect into preference assessments for the purpose of assent and goal development.

Kelly and Jen are joined by Meghan Herron, Director of Research and Development from Easterseals, Southern California to discuss her research looking at measuring Quality of Life as an outcome for ABA services and discuss how this can be considered by any ABA practitioner, working alongside families. Questionnaires - kidscreen.org Sponsored by: Cite Pro

There is research that suggests that individuals on the autism spectrum experience a much lower quality of life than nonautistic individuals across the lifespan. Quality of Life can be measured by happiness, which is considered a private event by behavior analysts. Indices of happiness are those observable behaviors that likely signal happiness, including smiling, laughing, and the absence of chal...

Kelly talks about her new book, including programming social skills intentionally to include group learning for children, and the difference between curriculum-based and activity and individualized learning. Buy her book here: The Group Experience – Different Roads (difflearn.com) Sponsored by Cite Pro

Kelly and Jen talk with long-time RBT's Stephanie and Salvador about how they have managed to stay in the field for so long, and the real ways BCBA's and families can help support and prevent burnout. It's pretty real concrete and not rocket science.

A new trend in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis is for parents to be the Behavior Therapist/RBT for their child while being supervised by a BCBA. Kelly and Jen discuss this trend from their perspective of their 20 years of experience. Article referenced: https://bhbusiness.com/2024/01/09/parents-are-desperate-parent-led-aba-provides-tantalizing-remedy-to-autism-therapys-challenges/ Sponsored...

Kelly and Jen talk about each of their perspectives regarding fulfilling the recommended hours of authorization. Some ABA companies often refer a family there to another agency if they do not commit to being able to use all of the hours. What do you think?

Families raising a child on the autism spectrum are faced with many different types of therapy and alternative options to try and help their child. Most are not evidence-based, some may even be harmful, while others may have a different, yet positive outcome than intended. Kelly & Jen talk about how families may make decisions and how BCBAs can follow their ethics code with kindness to help suppor...

Kelly discusses the history of the development of the BACB ethics code and her journey with ethics for the last 28 years with Maria Sasaski Solis, owner of the Sasaki Behavioral Group, APBA Board Member, and Co-Moderator of the Ethics Sig for CASP. Sponsored by CitePro Cite Pro You can find the Dear Don Casp Ethics Webinar here: Dear Don Ethics Panel (Nov 2023) - recorded - Council of Autism Servi...

Although the data is varied, some data suggests that parents of a child diagnosed with autism have a higher chance of divorce than their counterparts, especially if they are younger when married and have a child early on in their marriage. Parents raising children with autism experience greater marriage strain in part due to stress related to resources, severity of Autism symptoms, and concerns ov...

Kelly and Jen speak to Jennifer, BCBA, and mom to her 13-year-old son with ADHD. She shared his struggles with ADHD and anxiety coming out of the pandemic, trying to organize his homework and keep us with social pressures that ultimately led to hospitalization. Research tells us there is a stronger link between homework difficulties and ADHD than the general population. The National Institute of M...

Up to 75% of autistic children and adults will be bullied over the internet or taken advantage of in some way. Predators look for those who may not understand the nuances of social cues making autistic children and adults targets. In this podcast, Kelly speaks with Dennis Debbaudt, long-time safety trainer and author on how to create a cyber safety plan. Links for filters and protections can be fo...

Kelly & Jen talk with long-time Registered Behavior Therapist Salvador Cadenas about why he works with children and adults on the autism spectrum with severe behavior and shares his perspective on what BCBAs and families get right to keep behavior interventionists (RBTs) in their jobs, and what they don't get right, which may contribute to turnover and burnout. In this session, we also dis...

Jen & Kelly talk about the benefits of exercise. Did you know that exercise has been proven to increase flow to the brain, help with concentration, and improve sleep? With devices taking over, children and adults are exercising less. Kelly & Jen talk about all of the benefits and programs Special Olympics has to offer including both team and individualized programs that may be more fun and effecti...

Kelly & Jen wrap up season 3 by talking about the Ethics Code for Behavior Analysis, specifically 2.12, Considering Medical Needs. "Behavior Analysts ensure, to the best of their ability that medical needs are addressed and make referrals as needed." From the caregiver's perspective, finding qualified medical professionals that understand and even help those on the autism spectru...

Kelly & Jen get deep and talk about how Jen copes when her severely impacted son with autism is aggressive toward her, and suggests ways BCBAs can support caregivers after those moments. Sponsored by https://www.citepro.com

When an infant's attention is drawn to another person's face and voice, they experience a positive emotion as the amygdala and prefrontal cortex are activated. These networks are often faulty in children on the autism spectrum. As a result, no MO is created for wanting to look toward others. Coordinated eye gaze and shared experiences with others, knowns as joint attention, is considered a...

Extinction can best be defined as the discontinuing of reinforcement of a previously reinforced behavior (i.e., response no longer produces reinforcement). The goal of extinction is for the behavior to cease without having used a punishment procedure. Over the years the concept of extinction has become controversial. Kelly & Jen break down the different functions of behavior and discuss why ex...

Kelly and Jen speak with frequent guest Susan Senator about her recent article, "The Secret to Connecting with My Autistic Son." Is it something learned, or do you have to be taught? Why will some people work with the more severely impacted children and adults on the autism spectrum and why won't others? What's the secret to connecting with this group of people?  Susan Senator is the author o...

Kelly & Jen talk about the role of ABA, strength-based assessments, and the ethical considerations when assessing and treating people with autism across the varying levels of severity of autism, with considerations of consent and assent.  Sponsored by Cite Pro

Parenting a child on the spectrum, being a BCBA supporting that parent, is all hard work! Even after over 20 years, we don't always know what to do and feel lost!  We talk through how we both had a week feeling like frauds, and how we brought ourselves out of it (again) to continue marching on!  Sponsored by Cite Pro

Kelly is joined by Amanda Ralston, founder of Non-binary Solutions. Home | NonBinary Solutions .  Kelly has been certified by the BACB for over 20 years, and Amanda since the turn of the century! They discuss their journey in the field including the changes that have happened in the field; working without any formal code of ethics until 2014 and being 2 women in a field dominated by men. The...

Kelly is joined again with Kelly Haysley, mom to 3 children, 2 on opposite ends of the spectrum to talk about the REAL tips for getting through the holidays, beyond the fluffy memes you see out there posted this time of year. They talk about individualizing the holidays for each child and family, including how to find joy in the season, the unschool time, and the non-therapy therapy. (Jen was out...