ABA Inside Track

A few years back, we contributed a book chapter on non-traditional options for disseminating behavior analysis with Matt Cicoria where we became slightly enamored with the idea of communities of practice as a means for knowledge sharing. Well, thanks to our amazing listeners on Patreon, that topic is back and with a full episode. We look at how to create a community of practice, whether the idea actually leads to changes in professional behavior, and what barriers might keep your new group of professional problem solvers down. Protip: Being in Canada appears to be a huge help.
This episode is available for 1.0 LEARNING CEU.
Articles discussed this episode:
Busch, L., Zonneveld, K., Saini, V., Chartier, K., Leathen, N., Asaro, M., & Feltz, N. (2020). The more we get together: Communities of practice for behaviour analysts. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 52, 277-284. doi: 10.1037/cbs0000174
Hennein, R., Ggita, J.M., Turimumahoro, P., Ochom, E., Gupta, A.J., Katamba, A., Armstrong-Hough, M. & Davis, J.L. (2022). Core components of a community of practice to improve community health worker performance: A qualitative study. Implementation Science Communications, 3, 27-40. doi: 10.1186/s43058-022-002791
Barwick, M.A., Peters, J., & Boydell, K. (2009). Getting to uptake: Do communities of practice support the implementation of evidence-based practice? Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 18, 16-29.
Kerno, Jr., S.J. (2008). Limitations of communities of practice: A consideration of unresolved issues and difficulties in the approach. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 15, 69-78. doi: 10.1177/1548051808317998
If you're interested in ordering CEs for listening to this episode, click here to go to the store page. You'll need to enter your name, BCBA #, the two episode secret code words, and answers to the knowledge check questions to complete the purchase. Email us at [email protected] for further assistance.

UNLOCKED from our Patreon page, it's the "Divergent Mind" Book Club! Interested in more Book Clubs? Want to vote on what we read next? Feeling FOMO at getting this a full year late? Wish your 2.0 CEs for listening to the episode were FREE??? Join us on Patreon to get all of our episodes a week early, access to these bonus episodes, plus other goodies.
Could this book actually save your marriage? Well, that's not really the point of it; however, we found a LOT to enjoy and reflect on in our discussion of "Divergent Minds" by Jenera Nerenberg, a broad look at adult female neurodiversity in the modern era. Just how much of our socialization process practically mandates masking behavior in autistic women? And what does it mean to an individual labeled "highly sensitive" when entering the workforce or family life? Join us as we take a look at five commonly identified neurodivergences and the experiences of the women learning to live in a world not designed for them.
This episode is available for 2.0 LEARNING CEUs.
Patrons at the $10 and up level, as part of your subscription, you'll be able to earn these CEs for no charge! Subscribe to our Patreon at the today and go to the original post for a discount code to use at checkout.
Content discussed in this episode:
Nerenberg, J. (2020). Divergent mind: Thriving in a world that wasn't designed for you. Harper One.
If you're interested in ordering CEs for listening to this episode, click here to go to the store page. You'll need to enter your name, BCBA #, and the two episode secret code words to complete the purchase. Email us at [email protected] for further assistance. Want these CEs for FREE? Just subscribe to our Patreon at the $10+ levels and go to the original post for a discount code.

While Rob gets his Jedi robes back from the cleaners, let's take a moment for some fun chats, listener comments, and a preview of what's coming up this month on ABA Inside Track. First we open the Book Club vault to release last year's discussion of Jenara Nerenberg's female neurodiversity exploration, "Divergent Mind", the book that may have saved Diana and Rob's marriage (at least in the sense that they both liked it and are still married). Then we turn the episode-picking over to our listeners with a discussion of communities of practice and whether they're really as helpful for practitioners as they seem. Finally, we're joined by Dr. Ray Joslyn to cover a topic we didn't even know behavior analysts studied: the use and impact of adversarial questioning on the accuracy of eyewitness responding. Will we find out if humans are worse at interviews than Imperial probe droids? Stick with us the whole month to see.

Though the Beatles remind us to get by with a little help from my friends, is there really any hard evidence to back their assertion up? This week we look into the data to determine whether the use of peer behavior and prompting is actually a worthwhile intervention. We explore how peers could support the occurence of social initiations, compliance with teacher instructions, and removal of attention-rich reinforcement. Because that's what friends are for!
This episode is available for 1.0 DUAL-DIAGNOSIS (1.0 LEARNING CEU).
Articles discussed this episode:
Morrison, L., Kamps, D., Garcia, J., & Parker, D. (2001). Peer mediation and monitoring strategies to improve initiations and social skills for students with autism. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 3, 237-250. doi: 10.1177/10983007010030040
Beaulieu, L., Hanley, J.P., & Roberson, A.A. (2013). Effects of peer mediation on preschoolers' compliance and compliance precursors. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 46, 555-567. doi: 10.1002/jaba.66
Grauvogel-MacAleese, A.N. & Wallace, M.D. (2010). Use of peer-mediated intervention in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 43, 547-551. doi: 10.1901/jaba.2010.43-547
If you're interested in ordering CEs for listening to this episode, click here to go to the store page. You'll need to enter your name, BCBA #, the two episode secret code words, and answers to the knowledge check questions to complete the purchase. Email us at [email protected] for further assistance.

As behavior analysis pursues more opportunities to meaningfully ally with the neurodiversity movement, we need to ensure we're doing more than just playing lip service to those seeking additional supports by improving our listening. But how can you listen for assent without good communication skills? This week we are joined by Armando Bernal to explore how PECS may provide a more robust inroads to collaboration than we may have thought as well as some other ways that BCBAs can up their assent game.
This episode is available for 1.0 LEARNING CEU.
Articles discussed this episode:
Allen, L.L., Mellons, L.S., Syed, N., Johnson, J.F., & Bernal, A.J. (2024). Neurodiversity-affirming applied behavior analysis. Behavior Analysis in Practice. doi: 10.1007/s40617-024-00918-0
Doherty, A., Bracken, M., & Gormley, L. (2018). Teaching children with autism to initiate and respond to peer mands using picture exchange communication system (PECS). Behavior Analysis in Practice, 11, 279-288. doi: 10.1007/s40617-018-00311-8
If you're interested in ordering CEs for listening to this episode, click here to go to the store page. You'll need to enter your name, BCBA #, the two episode secret code words, and answers to the knowledge check questions to complete the purchase. Email us at [email protected] for further assistance.