Back to School with PBIS: Session 198 with Elissa Johnson

The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria

If you're anywhere in the upper part of the northern hemisphere, you already know that fall is in the air. And with that comes the annual return of students to their community schools.

As such, I thought it would be fun to bring on fellow New Hampshire behavior analyst, Elissa Johnson, to talk about the work she's doing in school settings.

Elissa is the Director of Behavioral Health for Constellations Behavioral Services, which was founded right here in the Granite State. As an aside, long time listeners might remember my interview with Kim and Tim Heald, the founders of Constellations way back in Session 35.

So in the episode, Elissa and I discuss how she got into the field, some common mentors we worked with, and how Constellations has transitioned into an ESOP or employee-owned company (a topic perhaps worthy of its own podcast for sure).

However, we spent the bulk of our time discussing how to do good behavior analytic work in school settings, including implementing multi-tiered systems of support, such as PBIS. If you're new to these terms, don't worry, because we do go through and define all the acronyms that are so common in this type of work.

As always, we end with some great advice for the newly-minted. And Elissa had some special words for those of you who are still in your coursework or otherwise working on becoming a newly-minted BCBA, so you'll want to stick around for that.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did!

Stuff we mentioned in the show:

• Session 35 with the CBS founders.
• The Behavioral Health Improvement Institute.
• Session 67, Deliberate Coaching with Paulie Gavoni.
• Session 171: How to Play the Good Behavior Game with Jeanne Donaldson.
• What is an ESOP (employee owned company)?
• How to use Choral Responding in classroom settings.
• New Hampshire Ed MTSS-B Technical Assistance Center.
• Session 173: Quick Responses for Problem Behaviors in School Settings.
• SAEBRS Social-Emotional Universal Screening Tool.
• Session 78: PBIS, Mental Health, and Supporting Students with Trauma Histories, with Barry McCurdy.

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