Now Supervising for Certification

Hi! I am now supervising those that are pursuing certification in Behavior Analysis and those that are Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analysts.

We are relocating to Fort Lewis, Washington

We are announcing that we are happy to provide services in the Fort Lewis area beginning January 2011. We will be working with Tricare under the Autism Demonstration Project and the ECHO program. We will also be accepting clients through private pay. Please email me with questions: jennica.verbalbehavior@hotmail.com

Ivar Lovaas has passed away

This was posted by Lisa Jo Rudy:
"Ivar Lovaas, Creator of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), Passes Away
Wednesday August 4, 2010
Dr. Ivar Lovaas, a clinical psychologist, passed away yesterday. Lovaas was best known as the creator of Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA), a rewards-and-consequences-based approach to educating individuals with autism and other developmental challenges and differences. Over the years, ABA has become the medically approved "gold standard" for autism treatment.

While there is no doubt that Lovaas's achievements were extraordinary, many disagreed with his methods. In his earlier days, Lovaas was an advocate of "aversives" - corporal punishments for non-compliance. Over time, Lovaas and his followers found that aversive approaches to education were less effective than "reinforcement" (rewards) for work well done."

I post this with one correction: Lovaas was not the creator of ABA but began his work from piggybacking among other great behaviorists in the field like John Watson, B.f. Skinner, and Sid Bijour, to name a few. Regardless we are grateful for the contributions of Lovaas and are truly sad to see him pass.

Conference in Georgia with Carbone

I registered for this conference today, I am very excited to see Carbone in March.

This is from www.asaga.com:

"The Greater Georgia Chapter of The Autism Society of America will hold our sixth annual conference, Monday and Tuesday, March 1-2, 2010, focused on providing current resources and information on autism and related disorders.

The 2010 Conference will be held at Hilton Atlanta Northeast.

Keynote Presentations by:
Dr. Vince Carbone
and William Stillman"

Merging of blogs

I have recently decided to merge my blogs, because I cannot keep up with both it is too much for me right now. So you will see some changes on this blog and just know that this new and improved blog that is about all things behavior! Everything from Verbal Behavior (VB) and Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to the basics of behavior. Don't worry if you don't know what VB and ABA are, just read and ask questions pertaining to your situation.

If you are considering career paths...

Someone recently emailed me, asking what field they should go into, when they would like to work with children (and parents) behaviorally. I would say if you have the luxury of going anywhere, try to find a bachelors degree in behavior analysis, they are out there. University of North Texas is one example. Google it, be industrious. If that not possible, I would look into behavior sciences in areas like cognition, behavior, the brain, neuropsychology, and biopsychology. This is closer to behavior analysis than psychology. I have included my response to said per about what program they should enroll in at University of Michagan.
"What I can advise depends on the kind of person you are. Some people want to find a major that is interesting and are not really sure if they will ever use it someday. Others are looking for long term work and are fully committed to their careers and really want to enjoy what they do. If you are looking for something fun and short term you may want to go the psychology route. If you are thinking about a career and are up for a lot of hard work and a challenge (possibly even grad school) then you will want to become a behavior analyst, like me. It is hard work and constantly challenging but I love it more than anything else I have ever done (except for being a mom of course). I looked at U of M and they have a brain, behavior, and cognition major, which is what I would do if I were you. Behavior analysis gets lumped into the field of psychology, but it actually isn't, it is much closer to science than anything else. It is the science of behavior, and Skinner would say it is the philosophy of science. Anyway I could go on forever but give me a call and we can talk more about it if you still interested."