Sufficient Training in Applied Behavior Analysis

Parents, home-based ABA teams, and schools for children with autism are constantly searching for ABA-trained therapists. The list-servs are flooded with pleas, the high turn-over in self-contained schools, and the highly criticized home-based ABA team with constant openings are all evidence of this high demand for teachers and teacher assistants trained in behavior analysis.

So what does ABA-trained mean? Who can become trained in behavior analysis? So many questions are brought to attention that is difficult to address them all. I would like to talk about one....Who can become trained in behavior analysis?

Not everyone. Clearly not everyone. There are certain analytic skills that are required to not only understand, but to apply principles of behavior analysis to everyday teaching and learning situations. And while many individuals market themselves as ABA trained, the field is flooded with "professionals" that don't understand the basic generalization and application of basic concepts in behavior analysis. Even basic concepts like negative reinforcement have some highly payed ABA therapists on their toes. I was recently at a meeting where a behavior consultant asked me "So how is his rule-governed behavior?" The principal of the school asked, "what does rule-governed behavior mean?" The consultant was stumped, with no way to explain her question, nor define the term. While the situation was somewhat amusing, it was also incredibly frustrating.

So who can be trained? Behavior analysis is not intuitive. It is NOT intuitive. If it was intuitive, teachers would not send a child out of the room when he was mis-behaving during a math lesson reinforcing the inappropriate behavior through negative reinforcement. Parents wouldn't give their screaming children candy. It is not intuitive. Being that it is not intuitive, principles need to be taught. But how many trials to criterion are necessary in order to identify if a therapist will be effective as a behavior analyst and that the principles have been mastered? Yet another area of research neglected: training needed to be a competent behavior analyst.

I would love to hear comments and feedback on this. I feel strongly that the teacher to be trained needs to be a constant learner. This means that training in behavior analysis is never seen as over. I shiver when I think of the therapist that I was ten years ago, and I wonder what I will think of my present teaching behavior ten years from now. The point is, that we as behavior analysts don't have all the answers and need to be comfortable in the constant pursuit of reading, researching, and finding answers. While this again, would seem intuitive, it isn't. How many have encountered therapists that don't listen to parent opinion, data, and anecdotal reports because their information is not taken seriously as a non-professional? How many 25 year-old therapists feel that with three years experience under their belt, they can run a home-program for a three-year-old child with autism and get offended when the parent recruits a consultant? Many. I have been one of them and I have encountered many of them.

So far, we have identified that an understanding of the basic principles are key, and seeking to constantly educate yourself is key. But all of this information and knowledge is for naught if the application eludes us. The application and extraction of the principles from our environment is a necessary skill.

What does a parent ask for when seeking for a therapist? ABA-trained....I wish I knew what that meant.