Scholarly publications
Includes peer reviewed journals within and adjacent to behavior analysis
(Starred journals available to BCBAs through the BACB portal)
Behavior Analysis in Practice Volume 17(1); 2024 Mar 28 articles, 2 open access
Most intriguing: The Effects of Motor Fluency on Dressing Tasks and Decreasing Escape Behaviors
March 2023 now free to read
3/11 Halkowski, M., Kubina, R.M. Effect of Repeated Reading on Reading Fluency for Adults with Specific Learning Disabilities. Behav Analysis Practice (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-024-00926-0
Repeated reading of a passage increased fluency, and gains were maintained over 1 month; also implemented via telehealth
3/12 Tefel, J.A. The Waxing and Waning of Establishing Behavior Analysis in a Latin American Country. Behav Analysis Practice (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-024-00923-3
The experiences of the first licensed BCBA in Guatemala
3/14 Dettmering, J., Hodzic, T. Avoiding Abuse of Power: A Case for Compassionate, Participant-Centered Research. Behav Analysis Practice (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-024-00925-1
The authors make the case for research that involves the input of the research subjects, including representative studies and recommendations for changes
Torres, G.I., Isenia, M.A.U. Behavior Analysis Services on the Island of Curaçao: Increasing Dissemination, Capacity Building, and Access to Care. Behav Analysis Practice (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-024-00922-4
In a small island nation, practitioners have created a center and found funding to support families
Journal of Organizational Behavior Management * Volume 44, Issue 1 (2024) 5 articles, 1 open access
Most intriguing: Effects of Feedback Timing on Accuracy of Functional Analysis Implementation
People want feedback before the next performance
Behavioral Interventions *
3/14 Houck, E. J., Dracobly, J. D., Smith, R. G., Bauer, M. S., Pelletier, D. R., & Sanchez, A. J. (2024). Adapting preference assessments and reinforcement schedules to increase mask wearing with adults with intellectual disabilities. Behavioral Interventions, e2008. https://doi.org/10.1002/bin.2008
For 2 adults, increasing variety of masks was enough to get them to wear masks regularly; for the remaining adults, various schedules of reinforcement led to mask wearing
3/15 Tereshko, L. M., Weiss, M. J., Ross, R. K., Harper, J. M., & Keane, D. (2024). A Component Analysis of ABC Assessments as Demonstrated through Function Based Interventions. Behavioral Interventions, e2009. https://doi.org/10.1002/bin.2009
Conditional probabilities of the antecedent condition were confirmed as the function of a behavior through a functional analysis, confirmed with a later treatment
Abdel-Jalil, A., Baldwin, J. N., & Leaf, J. B. (2024). Exposure-based treatments for fear and reactivity to medical procedures: A systematic review of the literature with implications for research and practice. Behavioral Interventions, e2010. https://doi.org/10.1002/bin.2010
A systematic review of the literature around exposure for medical phobias finds that the use of exposure has declined; many articles combined exposure with some other method or treatment; many did not include technological or social significance information; and the final closing of the article includes an interesting aside about a constructional approach to exposure therapy (more here)
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
3/12 Baiden, K.M., Williams, Z.J., Schuck, R.K. et al. The Social Validity of Behavioral Interventions: Seeking Input from Autistic Adults. J Autism Dev Disord (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-024-06297-3
(Open access) Autistic adults rate goals as acceptable when they target safety or well-being; less acceptable is anything designed to "normalize" behavior
Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science
3/12 Engagement with mental health and health behavior change interventions: An integrative review of key concepts
Defining an interdisciplinary model of "engagement" with treatment
3/16 A fresh lens on psychological flexibility: Using network analysis and the Unified Flexibility and Mindfulness Model to uncover paths to wellbeing and distress
Flexibility good, inflexibility bad
Book publications
Textbooks, handbooks, manuals, or mass-market
Podcasts
ABA Inside Track
Episode 1008 - (UNLOCKED) Between Now and Dreams Book Club
Behavior Analysis in Practice- The Podcast
S6E2: A Survey of Staff Training and Performance Management Practices: An Update with Abigail Blackman & Florence DiGennaro Reed
Behavioral Observations
What is Profound Autism, and Why is it Important? Session 258 With Alycia Halladay
Blogs
Generally these are produced by professionals
ABAI
Applied Behavioral Economics of Blog Demand: “Something Interesting” is Taking a Break. Here’s How to Bring it Back.
Tom Critchfield's excellent blog series is taking a break, and it seems like it's mainly due to a lack of reader interaction. I recommend you take a look at his entries here. For the record, beyond his excellent blog posts, he co-authored one of my all time favorite articles (scalloping in Congress) and has an impressive publication history
Quality of Life and Disability
OAR
Promoting Friendship in the Classroom for Autistic Students
Steve Hayes
6 Signs That You’re Stuck in a Negative Narrative: How to Overcome The Story of “Not Good Enough”
Licensing & professional organizations
BACB
The 2024 Michael Hemingway Behavior Analysis Award
Awarded to Eric V. Larsson
ASAT
ASD, Neurodiversity, Advocacy, and Behavior Analysis: What can we take away from the overlap among these topics?
Our dear friend Dr. Lloyd writes an excellent short piece about the history and integration of these topics
Business world
Autism services, behavioral health, etc.
Inexperienced new clinicians a top 2024 patient safety concern but also new MedicAid nursing ratio violations have yet to result in fines, which surely is a combination that bodes well for adults. Meanwhile, venture capital may target schools because of "lower customer acquisition costs," which finally explains why my teachers were always so concerned with customer satisfaction surveys and KPIs.
Accidentally behavior analysis
A mainstream news article that relates to behavior analysis
Her son was doing well at a clinic serving kids with autism. Then private equity took over., NBC News
When private equity takes over a business where the main cost is people, they cut corners with people. This means literally fewer people, but also less investment into them, including less training. This will never work in a business where the treatment is delivered by people, which is why I’m looking forward to the day that a private equity dude discovers a teaching machine.
Continuing education
UPCOMING:
BehaviorLive has a list of events, some of which are free: 3/20, 3/21, 3/26 (SUP), 3/27 (ETH)
Flashback
A paper was posted online by the European Journal of Behavior Analysis on 1/31 (and included in that week's Fixed Interval) entitled "Scrolling into trouble: Navigating social media’s pitfalls with applied behavior analysts." Several tips poured in that this article was removed on or about 3/11; the DOI currently leads to a "removal" notice here. The removal notice does not include an explanation. A few pieces of information can be gleaned from tips, a closer reading of the article (available in full as of 3/12 here), and plain old internet snooping. Based on the names and affiliations of the listed authors, the article is a product of at least two organizations: Endicott college (Weiss, Bukszpan, Piazza) and the Autism Partnership Foundation (Cihon, Leaf). The article includes quotes from internet posts, with citations that attribute said posts to what appear to be real last names and first initials (e.g., "J. Doe") that, when clicked, lead to private Facebook groups. The quotes vary but are all problematic in some way; some are anti-ABA or anti-science, some are perhaps libelous, some are endorsing unscientific interventions. Probably the people who made the posts (under their real names, it seems) expected some minimal level of privacy -- the Facebook groups are not public, at least. The authors of the paper note that these posts are not truly private, which is obviously true at this point. (When the article was posted, I did not realize real names were used; this was pointed out to me recently. However some people noticed it immediately, and I appreciate their close reading of the material.) Nevertheless, the article does not seem to be immensely improved by the quotes, and so it gives the impression of vindictiveness or pettiness. And while it seems that the article had over a dozen authors, some commenters reserved a particular ire for Justin Leaf of APF. The suggestion seemed overheated until we observed that Leaf no longer appears on a list of staff at Endicott (previous list here). A rumor of unknown provenance suggests that these individual posts had previously been reported as ethical violations, but resulted in no action against the posters. Was this score-settling via scholarly publication? Was this article rejected elsewhere before EJBA?