Affectively-Align & Culturally Aware ABA Notebook

Course 2:

Hello, classmates! 

As a former teacher then wound care nurse (for my loved one) now back to teaching, my journey has been shaped by a passion for helping and being of service to others. As a student in the MS ABA program, I am fascinated by how behavior analysis bridges education and healthcare. Learning the philosophical underpinnings of ABA like pragmatism and determinism was enlightening– Now, I’m eager to learn further as we dive into concepts and principles of ABA– like reinforcement schedules and how behavior is shaped by the environment (Cooper et al., 2020). My goal is to gain as much hands-on experience applying ABA in different settings; schools, clinics, hospitals, and clients home to strengthen my skills before transitioning into conceptual research. Ultimately, I aspire to design effective play-based interventions or instructional materials; training LLM (large language model) to aid in interventions and traditional tactile games, blending my teaching and nursing background with ABA concepts and principles. I look forward to learning and growing with you all!  

Reference: 

Cooper, J.O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2020). Applied behavior analysis (3rd Ed.) Pearson 

Course 3:

Introduction: 

Hello Classmates! I’m Daffodil Lucio, currently listed to work as a substitute teacher for my county’s AcCEL and MOVE programs, where I look forward to implementing ABA strategies with neurodiverse learners. My career aspirations are to become an OBM consultant/coach and ABA researcher, focusing on neurodiversity-informed performance improvement in organizational settings (Wilder et al., 2009). My foundational courses have been an invaluable preparation for this measurement and design course. In ABA 620, studying Radical Behaviorism (Skinner, 1953) transformed my understanding of behavior-environment relations. Then in ABA 622, learning about stimulus and response classes (Cooper et al., 2020) provided conceptual framework needed to identify and measure behavior accurately – essential skills I expect we’ll now apply in experimental design. I’m looking forward to deepening my skills in data-driven decision-making and experimental design to bridge theory and practice 

Concepts To Learn: 

Now in ABA624 I’m eager to learn by heart how to select appropriate measurement procedures, as I aim to acquire the ability to evaluate and choose the most valid, reliable, and practical measurement system for a given behavior because measurement procedures directly impact data accuracy and intervention decisions in ABA (Fisk & Delmolino, 2012), for example continuous measurement is ideal for discrete, low-rate behaviors but may be impractical for high-frequency behaviors while discontinuous methods reduce observer burden but may over-or underestimate behavior (LeBlanc et al., 2016). It would be great to internalize and make this ability second nature. 

Measurement System: 

For those of use grinding through SAFMEDS, I’ve been experimenting with event recording (frequency count) to track my study habits. Here’s what I try to do: Every time I complete a full deck review (1min/30 cards), I log it as one tally–on a notebook “old school” style. At the end of the day, I sum up my reps and graph them to spot trends. It directly measures effort (more reps=more fluency practice), with this I compare my daily tallies to weekly quiz scores to check progress. The downside though is that–it doesn’t really capture how well I did in those reps–just how many. So, I sometimes add a quick note on accuracy (% correct) to fill in the gaps. On the other hand, I learned that what we did through CentralReach was speed + accuracy is about duration recording to better capture fluency growth. The whole point of SAFMEDS is to reduce latency while maintaining accuracy–duration data shows this directly. If my total time stays the same but my correct responses increase, that’s progress.  Anyone else use frequency count to track study habits? Would love hear tweaks or alternatives. Lastly, I’m looking forward to collaborating with you all! 

References: 

Cooper, J.O., Heron, T.E., & Heward, W.L. (2020) Applied Behavior Analysis (3^rd ed.) Pearson. 

Fiske, K., & Delmolino, L. (2012). Use of discontinuous methods of data collection in behavioral intervention: Guidelines for practitioners. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 5(2), 77-81. 

LeBlanc, L.A., Lund, C., Kooken, C., Lund, J.B., & Fisher, W.W. (2016). A proposed model for selecting measurement procedures. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 49(3), 1-12. 

Skinner, B.F. (1953). Science and human behavior. Simon and Schuster. 

Wilder, D.A., Austin, J., & Casella, S. (2009). Applying behavior analysis in organizations: Organizational behavior management. Psychological Services 6(3), 202-211. 

Course 4:

Hi, my name is Daffodil Lucio 

Background: My professional path has been quite a journey. Seventeen years ago, I started as a teacher, then transitioned into wound care nursing, and have now returned to the classroom as substitute teacher to acquire hands-on experience working with kiddos diagnosed with ASD and other developmental disabilities. While ABA is completely a new field for me, I am thoroughly enjoying delving into it. My long –term goal is not to work as a BCBA therapist in a “clinical” setting but to apply ABA principles in the fields of Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) and in training large language models—essentially, exploring how AI can be integrated into ABA. 

Experience with Functional Behavior Assessments: My experience with FBAs is currently purely academic. From my readings, the most important concept I’ve learned is that the FBA process is fundamentally rooted in evidence-based practice, relying on direct and indirect data to understand the function of a behavior, rather than just its form. 

Expectations for the Course: One concept I am eager to learn more about is how to effectively incorporate both quantitative (like frequency counts) and qualitative elements (such as interview narratives) when conducting an FBA, while ensuring the analysis remains strictly behavioral and does not cross the line into mentalism. 

I found the last course ABA624 measure and design fascinating, I enjoyed creating hypothetical intervention plans and graphs, though the 8-week format felt brief for such complex skills. I look forward to learning and collaborating with all of you all who have hands-on experience and to acquire as much practical FBA knowledge as I can from this course specially that I wrote an open notebook blog about assessment that I am hoping to discuss with the experts when I join the ABAI conference in Portugal in November. This is an intimidating journey—But hey, “no guts no glory” right?