ABA on Call

Effective supervision requires deliberate attention to professional development, supervisory relationships, and client outcomes. In this episode, Rick Kubina welcomes Joseph Cautilli and Lynn Santilli-Connor to explore a developmental approach to behavioral supervision. The discussion examines acquisition, maintenance, and restorative supervision; the importance of creating an environment where supervisees can openly discuss difficult cases; and the contingencies affecting both supervisors and supervisees. Guests discuss ethical dialogue, balanced caseloads, and strategies to address burnout, emphasizing the need to evaluate supervision through client progress and staff development. The episode also explores why strong clinical skills alone don't guarantee effective supervision and how new supervisors can prepare for their responsibilities.


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Show Notes: 

Link to book coming soon!
American Counseling Association. (2014). 2014 ACA code of ethics. https://www.counseling.org
American Psychological Association. (2017). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct (2002, amended effective June 1, 2010, and January 1, 2017). https://www.apa.org/ethics/code
Barkley, R. A., & Fischer, M. (2019). Hyperactive child syndrome and estimated life expectancy at young adult follow-up: The role of ADHD persistence and other potential predictors. Journal of Attention Disorders, 23(9), 907–923.
Behavior Analyst Certification Board. (2020). Ethics code for behavior analysts. https://www.bacb.com
Bijou, S. W., & Baer, D. M. (1961). Child development: A systematic and empirical theory (Vol. 1). Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Bordin, E. S. (1979). The generalizability of the psychoanalytic concept of the working alliance. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, 16(3), 252–260.
Boyce, T. E., & Hineline, P. N. (2002). Interteaching: A strategy for enhancing the user-friendliness of behavioral arrangements in the college classroom. The Behavior Analyst, 25(2), 215–226.
Delaney, D. J. (1972). A behavioral model for the practice of counseling. Counselor Education and Supervision, 12(1), 46–50.
Ferster, C. B. (1973). A functional analysis of depression. American Psychologist, 28(10), 857–870.
Krasner, L. (1962). The therapist as a social reinforcement machine. In H. H. Strupp & L. Luborsky (Eds.), Research in psychotherapy (Vol. 2, pp. 61–94). American Psychological Association.
Krumboltz, J. D. (Ed.). (1966). Revolution in counseling: Implications of behavioral science. Houghton Mifflin.
Skinner, B. F. (1957). Verbal behavior. Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Skinner, B. F. (1975). The ethics of helping people. Criminal Law Bulletin, 11(5), 623–636.
Wolpe, J. (1958). Psychotherapy by reciprocal inhibition. Stanford University Press.

Science depends not simply on discovering an effect, but on demonstrating that the effect can be observed again. In this episode of ABA on Call, Rick and Doug examine replication as a cornerstone of scientific knowledge and explore psychology's well-known replication crisis. They discuss why direct and systematic replication matter, how statistical significance and publication bias can fuel misplaced confidence in research findings, and what happened when researchers tried to reproduce influential psychological effects such as ego depletion and power posing.
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Show Notes: 

Replication crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replication_crisis
Power Posing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc

Peer review does not guarantee good science, and publication in a respected journal does not relieve practitioners of the responsibility to think critically. In this episode of ABA on Call, Rick and Doug revisit seven questions Hank Pennypacker used to teach students how to evaluate research, beginning with the experimental question and moving through behavioral measurement, observation, experimental design, data analysis, and the ultimate question: Did the researchers actually answer their question, and does the answer matter? They apply this framework to a published single-case study evaluating the Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol for children with childhood apraxia of speech. Along the way, they examine problems involving hypotheses versus experimental questions, measurement, percentage-based data, experimental control, and interpretation. The episode offers behavior analysts and other practitioners a practical framework for moving beyond conclusions and critically evaluating the evidence behind them.
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Show Notes: 

Article: 
A single case experimental design study using an operationalised version of the Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol for children with childhood apraxia of speech
Hank Pennypacker's exercise to review research articles
1. What question are you actually trying to answer?
2. What exactly is the behavior?
3. What dimension of that behavior matters?
4. How did you observe and record it?
5. Only now do we talk about experimental design.
6. How did they analyze the data?
7. Did they actually answer the question, and who cares?

In this episode of ABA on Call, Rick Kubina and Doug Kostewicz respond to two real parenting questions drawn from social media. First, they examine the common misconception that reinforcement and bribery are the same, clarifying the behavioral principles underlying reinforcement, incentives, schedules of reinforcement, and the Premack Principle. They then analyze a complex family situation in which young children consistently seek one parent while rejecting the other, demonstrating how behavior analysts use objective data, motivating operations, attention, and reinforcement contingencies to understand and address challenging family dynamics. Throughout the discussion, the hosts illustrate how behavior analysis provides compassionate, practical, and evidence-based solutions to everyday parenting concerns.
To earn CEUs for listening, click here, log in or sign up, pay the CEU fee, + take the knowledge check to generate your certificate! Don't forget to subscribe and follow and leave us a rating and review.
Show Notes: 

Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2020). Applied behavior analysis (3rd ed.). Pearson. 
Michael, J. (1982). Distinguishing between discriminative and motivational functions of stimuli. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 37(1), 149–155. https://doi.org/10.1901/jeab.1982.37-149
Michael, J. (1993). Establishing operations. The Behavior Analyst, 16(2), 191–206. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03392623
Premack, D. (1959). Toward empirical behavior laws: I. Positive reinforcement. Psychological Review, 66(4), 219–233. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0040891

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recently released audit findings that have sparked widespread discussion throughout the applied behavior analysis (ABA) community. In this episode, Rick Kubina, Doug Kostewicz, and guest Christina Scenna unpack what the OIG report actually says and, just as importantly, what it does not say. They discuss why documentation and billing compliance differ from the effectiveness of ABA, explore how rapid growth in autism services created new regulatory challenges, and examine practical solutions ranging from graduate training and continuing education to AI-assisted documentation. The conversation highlights how the field can strengthen accountability while preserving access to high-quality behavior analytic services for the individuals who depend on them.
To earn CEUs for listening, click here, log in or sign up, pay the CEU fee, + take the knowledge check to generate your certificate! Don't forget to subscribe and follow and leave us a rating and review.
Show Notes: 

Trilliant Health. The Economics of Autism Care (2025/2026 reports).
Institute of Medicine. (2003). Key Capabilities of an Electronic Health Record System. National Academies Press.
https://oig.hhs.gov/reports/all/2024/indiana-made-at-least-56-million-in-improper-fee-for-service-medicaid-payments-for-applied-behavior-analysis-provided-to-children-diagnosed-with-autism/