Super craft brew for this episode. Dan and Mike take time to interview a parent, Jess, with her own, very unique experience with ASD and ABA intervention. Jess is a sole-provider with two young children, her youngest on the spectrum. She lends her insight and experiences regarding sibling rivalry, managing extended family attitudes about disability…

Continuing with the parenting brew, Dan and Mike lean yet again on a recipe from Jeremy Brown and Autism Parenting Magazine (link below). As was the case with the first two episodes of the season, the article provides a perfect blend of basic ingredients for cool, crisp and balanced parenting. This episode reviews all tips and strategies outlined i…

Jeremy Brown, author of "11 Things Not To Do With An Autistic Child," an insightful article easily found online, provides so much to contemplate. that Dan and Mike pulled a second brew from his basic ingredients. To be honest, they simply take ingredients 6-11 from the list for this particular concoction. ABA on Tap is thankful for the author's par…

Welcome to Season 5 of ABA on Tap! In an effort to bring more support directly to parents, as well as ABA professionals, Mike and Dan kick off the season with an article review (link below). Right in line with the objective, an article from a parenting magazine about 'what not to do' with autistic children is reviewed for this brew. As has been the…

It has been an incredible run for ABA on Tap in 2023! Mike and Dan take a moment to recap all our discussions and themes. They give some hints about what is to come in season 5. Most importantly, Mike and Dan give THANKS! to all of you out there who collaborate with us and support the show in any way. ABA on TAP appreciates YOU! Enjoy this well-rou…

ABA is often seen as home-based in terms of its service location. While this may at times extend to the premise of 'community,' the procedures and protocols can appear very similar from place to place. However, just like behavior, the environment can have a substantial influence on how ABA can be practiced and implemented. One particular environmen…

Mike and Dan continue to bubble and brew over the challenges in the field of ABA intervention, and specifically the undervalued role of the RBT. They provide impressions and personal tales regarding their own professional transition from possibly the best reimbursement rates in the history of ABA intervention to a new outfit where said rates will b…

Private equity has entered the ABA services game with great fervor, making a tremendous impact on the field as a whole. In this episode, Mike and Dan take a close look at some 'crisis' elements created by the infusion of private equity and an aim to generate revenue, at times at the expense of the quality of services and client outcomes. At the sam…

Continuity of quality service might be one of the most important aspects of treatment with successful outcomes. Quality can refer to a number of variables including a strong rapport between client (and family) and clinicians, built over time with a steady progression of engaging and reinforcing sessions. While case managers are part of this quality…

From vertically-oriented wall schedules to PECS to token and choice boards--ABA practitioners love their so-called 'visuals'. In this brewing session, Mike and Dan dissect the idea of these strange technologies to understand what is meant by 'visual,' especially if all parties involved are 'sighted' individuals. Taking the ideas of joint attention …

In observation of Autism Acceptance and Awareness Month, Mike and Dan examine a very poignant and sharp criticism of ABA intervention strategies (link is below). Reviewed exactly as published on the website 'autisticscienceperson.com,' the current brew integrates several points of disapproval, as written by an author that identifies as autistic. Wh…

Beginning with one of the most foundational ingredients available for this brew, Mike and Dan lean on hearty handfuls of Diana Baumrind's nominal research on parenting styles from back in the 1960s. Fresh off a healthy pour on 'Parent Education,' it makes perfect sense for the behavioral brew to examine styles of parenting. Many new flavors and 'hi…

ABA on Tap is proud to introduce Jennifer Stephens, a BCBA and clinical counselor, in this latest installment of our behavioral brew. Jennifer is owner/operator of the Stephens Consulting Group in Kentucky and also a long time listener of ABA on Tap. She took inspiration from our inaugural episode 'Why 40-hours?' and has graciously agreed to join a…

In considering traditional approaches to ABA intervention and the importance of imitation as a key building block in learning, you have probably heard the directive (discriminative stimulus) 'Do This' as an essential part of so-called non-verbal imitation programs. In this episode, Mike and Dan take some time to examine the premise of non-verbal im…

For this brew, Dan and Mike take time to incorporate some recent events with policing and the challenges faced by said institutions in providing training and support. Given current discussions and criticism of ABA methods and treatment, your hosts draw comparisons and parallels between the ideas of ABA intervention and policing as it relates to beh…

Parents are an integral part of any successful ABA-based intervention protocol. The simple fact is, given a least restrictive level of services, parents should be enjoying a much greater amount of time with their children than the ABA provider is spending. Historically, this has seen a very necessary and natural evolution, moving from the idea of p…

ABA has essentially become synonymous with treatment of ASD, and medically speaking, nothing else despite a wide-array of possibilities. Insurance mandates have now existed in many states across the United States for 10 or more years, but are specific to ABA as a recommended treatment for ASD. In this episode, Mike and Dan guide us through the idea…

What goes up must come down--after a two-part series on the idea of an 'escalation cycle,,' Dan and Mike could only follow up with a discussion on de-escalation. In this follow-up episode, Dan and Mike continue to utilize the notion of 'crisis' or 'assaultive' behavior and its management as a means to better understand and elucidate strategies for …

As promised, a continuation of the discussion on the escalation cycle as filtered through the idea of crisis and so-called 'assaultive' behavior, and further how this model can be aptly utilized in considering challenging behaviors from day to day. While we often consider the child or person emitting the undesired behavior, Dan and Mike take time t…

In this episode, Dan and Mike tackle a very important and dense topic--the idea of a cycle of escalation as it pertains to behavior management. Starting from the perspective of crisis management, specifically considering a familiar and widely-recognized system like 'Pro-Act,' the premise is to consider not just the outward behavior itself, but perh…

As ABA professionals, we are often called upon to reduce the occurrence of so-called 'maladaptive' behaviors. Terms like protest, tantrum, elopement or escape are all too common though they don't provide clean description of the behavior or its function. Often times, what we mean is that a child or client spent a certain amount of time crying, for …

Following the two part series on Joint Attention, Dan and Mike extend the discussion to include verbal behavior. Dan takes a lead to expand and make an important distinction between verbal and vocal behavior. Herein comes a strong connection with joint attention given that eye gaze and pointing for example, are both fundamentally sound verbal behav…

The brew continues in Joint Attention Part II. Mike and Dan review research on the correlation between joint attention, imitation, language development (verbal/vocal behavior) and play. From this, they focus on a specific research-based method designed to promote joint attention--namely following a point (both proximal and distal) as well as gaze s…

Better late than never, Mike and Dan kick off the 3rd season of ABA on Tap. Thank you all out there for your continued support and listenership. In an effort to advance the 'lab to living room' approach, Mike and Dan give a historical account of their current practices in early intervention. Given that these particular programs take a 'preventative…

Mike and Dan discussed collaboration with SLP and OT. Now they explore current and prospective efforts with psychiatric care, use of medication from said psychiatric care, as well as future efforts in primary medical care, an 'off-label' use of ABA, per the current treatment model. ABA provision and related data could easily provide a wealth of inf…

Behavior encompasses a wide range of activity from talking, to moving around to just about anything that makes us animate as human animals. Yet ABA is often quickly boiled down to the 'bad behavior' science, addressing the tantrums, excessive crying, dropping to the ground, self-injurious behavior, etc. This general overview can be so pervasive tha…

"Let's make some visuals" or "that child would benefit from sensory" are two commonly heard phrases in ABA intervention yet they sound strange and overall lack meaning. In this episode, Mike and Dan take time to explore technologies like 'sensory,' 'visuals', social stories, tangible/edible reinforcement and more. These technologies were adapted wi…

Ready to learn more and engage in philosophic doubt, Mike and Dan take on a recent opinion published by the well-known education writer, Alfie Kohn. Kohn lends an eloquent criticism of ABA, pointing to recent meta-analyses that aim to question, if not eliminate, any socially significant effects and benefits of ABA-based interventions, as used with …

The brew continues to mature as Mike and Dan evolve the discussion naturally into the next flavor, antecedent based strategies. Given ABA has been driven largely by a consequence base, the discussion leads into how to prepare for certain behaviors ahead of time, knowing they are actively being emitted. The idea becomes not to preempt or avoid the b…

Welcome to Season 2 of ABA on Tap--Happy New Year! Mike and Dan jump right back in where they left off. Following the natural progression and discussion thus far, they happen upon differential reinforcement in order to promote a more multivariate application of ABA than seems the norm. Given the perpetuation of 3-part contingencies, the so-called A…

After entertaining Chloe's criticisms and doing so seriously, Dan and Mike take a chance to explore ABA clichés--all those little overused misconceptions and stereotypes we hear out in our daily work about why ABA doesn't work. All the while, ABA touts empirical validation. How do we reconcile between what is proven and the possibility of user-erro…

Dan and Mike take time to reflect further on criticisms of ABA as lent by Chloe Everett in her TedTalk, The Problem with Applied Behavior Analysis (https://youtu.be/pCqEb0aG7tg). More importantly, in part II of this episode, they respond on said criticisms. Lastly, future directions and changes to ABA practice are discussed, from the lab to the liv…

While ABA rightfully touts empirical validation, social validity may not always reflect as strongly. One need not go further than Google to find a plethora of harsh criticism against ABA. Such a vocal critic is found in Chloe Everett and her TEDTalk entitled "The Problem with Applied Behavior Analysis" (https://youtu.be/pCqEb0aG7tg). Chloe is a wel…

ABA on Tap excitedly welcomes our first guest ever to the podcast. Kadi Jones is a longtime practitioner and licensed BCBA residing and working in Arizona. Unlike some practitioners in California (e.g., your esteemed hosts Mike and Dan), Kadi has been practicing as usual throughout the entire pandemic thus far, delivering in-home ABA services and a…

As people prepare to re-enter the workplace, having been 'sheltered-in-place,' ABA professionals, educators and parents alike are compelled to consider the past 4 months. What have we learned? Prior episodes have examined the exciting advancements made for our understanding of 'TeleHealth' as it pertains to ABA, especially as surfaced by quarantine…

After several weeks of working with parents and clients alike, all under quarantine, Dan and Mike offer points of relief for listeners learning to balance several roles under one roof. Specifically, today's pour is rich with redefining ingredients in our day to day routines and schedules. In order to soon arrive at a smooth and successful 'finish' …

Quarantine, or perhaps more accurately stated 'shelter in place,' has certainly put a new spin on our daily lives, to phrase it mildly. We find ourselves taking stock and placing new value on every day stimuli. In this episode, Mike and Dan work to redefine 'screen time' for parents now contending with school content, as well as for professionals c…

In only their second published episode, Mike Rubio and Daniel Lowery are compelled to deal with quarantine and the current COVID-19 circumstance as they keep their distance and connect remotely. They posit many topics for discussion and consideration, covering new 'levels of service' in ABA during this era of social distancing, as well as suggestin…

Mike and Dan take you back to the beginning of ABA on Tap to share a studio out-take not published at the time of production. After some review, they have decided the information in this previously unreleased episode needs to be heard. In "More than MORE", a thorough discussion regarding the use of some 'starter' verbal behaviors like signing 'more…

Behavior Analysts Mike Rubio and Dan Lowery kick off their podcast adventure by pouring a user-friendly, unfiltered, smooth and easy to consume discussion on Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). In this inaugural episode, Mike and Dan sort through the idea of 40-hours a week of in-home ABA treatment--a common pairing on the ABA treatment list for indiv…