Michelle Vinokurov is a paraprofessional and RBT autistic advocate who was diagnosed with autism at the age of two. Through her parents’ early intervention and going through her own therapy, Michelle was inspired to start working in the field. We talk about how much has changed in ABA over the years, how things have improved, clarifying the importance of ABA for parents, and advice for a new practitioner.
Dr. Hank Schlinger is a professor at California State University and the author of several books on behavior and self-esteem in children. We discuss how important parental involvement is and how practitioners can do better when educating families and primary caregivers. We also talk about the importance of self-esteem and how it impacts lasting behavioral changes.
Ling and Jane join us on the show today and explain their AAC platform, Linggo. Communication is a complex concept and requires an interdisciplinary approach, while keeping the needs of the child front and center. Linggo is much different than traditional AACs and the company also provides training for both parents and practitioners, which helps with adoption and adherence.
Emily Varon is a BCBA and a sleep expert who offers CEUs to companies and ABA professionals. We discuss the importance of using non-extinction behaviors when addressing sleep issues. We also talk about co-sleeping, blue light exposure, and tips for ABA practitioners working through sleep problems with clients.
Michael Maloney is an expert in direct instruction and precision teaching. His work addresses the growing literacy problem, which he refers to as a global pandemic. We talk with Michael about the Follow Through Project, why the system won’t address the literacy problem, and what we can do as practitioners to make a difference.
In this mentorship sneak peek, we discuss a question from a community member around reinforcement. It’s easy to associate reinforcers with physical objects like toys and snacks, but there are plenty of non-tangible reinforcers that are intrinsically motivating. Using a little creativity when uncovering reinforcers goes a long way.
We’re discussing burnout with one of our members, Julie Tewell, a clinical BCBA based out of Louisville, KY. As a newly minted BCBA, it’s important to stick to your values and never settle for a toxic job when you can find one that better suits you. If you’re new to the field, lean on your network and don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Kailani Bartley is one of our members and she’s currently working at CABS in Chicago. She just graduated with her master’s and is sitting for the BCBA exam in August. We chat with Kailani about supervision, creativity, and how to succeed as a newly minted BCBA.
One of our audience members brought a question to us about automatically reinforced behaviors. It’s important to identify the function first and why the behavior is so appealing. Then, you can work on introducing replacement behaviors and a strategy that works.
Collecting data around a problematic behavior is one of the key duties of a behavior analyst. Defining the behavior first and being as specific as possible helps everyone stay on the same page. We cover how to make the data collection process easier, including when to focus on frequency or duration and when to use partial interval recording.
