ABI at CalABA

The California Association for Behavior Analysis (CalABA) held their 33^rd annual Western Regional Conference in San Diego on February 19-21, 2015. Our Clinical Director, Marla Saltzman, and Managing Director, Maureen Moore, attended the conference along with our Associate Program Supervisors, Allison Bickelman and Kirstie Waring. Allison presented a poster for California State University, Los Angeles, reviewing her thesis work, titled, “An Evaluation of Bonus Points for Paced Study Habits,” finding that providing bonus points increased submission of quiz preparation questions when students knew bonus points were available.  In addition, one of our skills trainers, Vahe Esmaeili, presented a poster reviewing work with colleagues at California State University Northridge titled, “A Review of the Types of Simulations and their Effectiveness for Training.” We are proud to have our clinical staff participating in ongoing research in the field.

Our team attended a wide variety of presentations from leaders in our field, including Mark Sundberg’s keynote address on motivation and its importance in teaching children with autism and Pat Friman’s invited address on the application of ABA to pediatrics. Dr. Friman noted the utility of having Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) work with pediatricians to implement early interventions to address common childhood behavioral issues such as bed wetting, defiance and anxiety.

The conference proved to be an excellent reminder of the effectiveness of ABA in the treatment of individuals with autism and developmental disabilities, as well its benefit in a wide variety of additional applications such as pediatrics, gerontology, and organizational management.