AlphaBee’s 10th Annual ABA Conference

Conference Dates

Day 1:

Tuesday, October 17, 2023 (9AM — 4:30PM EDT)

Day 2:

Wednesday, October 18, 2023 (9AM — 4:30PM EDT)

Conference Outline

Day 1 — October 17, 2023

The first day of the conference focuses on the following two seminars:

 

Fear and Flexibility: Understanding and supporting young people with OCD from a behaviour analytic perspective — led by Dr. Evelyn Gould

Approximately 40% of autistic youth meet criteria for one or more anxiety disorders, and around 17.4% meeting criteria for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) (Van Steensel et al., 2011). OCD is a particularly debilitating and chronic condition that is often misdiagnosed, unrecognized, or ignored in autistic individuals. Ambiguity and overlap with respect to the topography and function of behaviours results in clinicians struggling to differentiate between the core features of autism and OCD. Thus designing effective, function-based treatments is a challenge. Exposure with Response Prevention (ERP) represents the gold-standard treatment for OCD, however, autistic individuals require individualized, affirmative treatment modifications, with greater focus on family and systems support, skill development, and prolonged generalization and transition services.

This seminar will introduce participants to:

• Evidence-based strategies for the assessment and treatment of OCD from a behaviour analytic perspective, with considerations for multidisciplinary collaboration.
• Strategies for fostering long-term resilience, courage and flexibility in autistic children and young people.

This seminar includes 4 General CEUs.

 

Ethical and Practical Considerations When Teaching Verbal Behaviour to Children with Autism — led by Dr. Judah Axe

Skinner’s (1957) analysis of verbal behaviour allows practitioners to effectively teach communication skills to individuals with autism and other neurodiverse individuals. In this seminar, Dr. Axe will provide an overview of this analysis, discuss ethical considerations when teaching verbal behaviour, and go into depth on recent research on teaching different verbal operants in the following areas:

1. Mand Training, including contriving MOs and using the quick-transfer-of-stimulus-control procedure.
2. Tact Training, with an analysis of the antecedent and consequence variables supporting tacts in the natural environment.
3. Intraverbals, with particular interest in strategies for teaching multiply controlled intraverbals.

This seminar includes 1 Ethics CEU and 3 General CEUs.

 

Day 2 — October 18, 2023

The second day of the conference focuses on the following two seminars:

 

ACT from the Inside Out: Introduction to psychological flexibility at the heart of what we do as behaviour analysts — led by Dr. Evelyn Gould

From a behaviour analytic perspective, psychological well-being and resilience involves flexibly interacting with our experiences in context-sensitive ways that connect us with meaning and purpose, even in adverse contexts (Ming et al., 2023). This highly adaptive repertoire can be referred to as psychological flexibility, where “psychological” refers to language repertoires, including derived relational responding and rule-governed behaviour. Psychological flexibility is the primary target of contextual behavioural treatment approaches, such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT; Hayes et al., 2011) and can be considered a critical socially valid outcome and guiding principle for all that we do as behaviour analysts. Indeed, psychological inflexibility likely plays a key role in many of the difficulties humans encounter (e.g., Kashdan & Rottenberg, 2010; Levin et al., 2014).

This seminar will invite participants to:

• Explore how adopting an ACT lens to their work might lead to a better understanding of themselves and others and enhance their ability to support meaningful and impactful behaviour change.
• Learn opportunities to ‘try on’ this approach and consider how they might apply what they are learning to their own work and lives, regardless of context.

This seminar includes 4 General CEUs.

 

Teaching Problem Solving to Address Complex Repertoires with Students with Autism — led by Dr. Judah Axe

Once children with autism have basic verbal and academic repertoires, behaviour analysts must teach more advanced skills, such as solving math story problems, answering questions about the past, and answering questions that require internet research. The analysis of problem solving can greatly help with teaching these complex skills. Skinner defined problem solving as manipulating stimuli to increase the probability of arriving at a solution to a problem. When faced with a problem, an individual first emits behaviours, such as working out the problem on paper, asking herself questions, or visualizing. Dr. Axe will describe research on using visual imagining, self-questioning, graphic organizers, and mobile apps to teach intraverbal categorization, recalling past events, equivalence relations, and answering social questions.

This seminar includes 4 General CEUs.

 

Costs

$225 CAD (available until October 16, 2023)

Taxes (HST) will be included at checkout.

 

Group Registration

To register your team for the conference:

• The group must be registered in one (1) transaction through alphabeePRO's website.
• Group leader must email info@alphabeepro.com with the full names of ALL attendees in their group along with their emails.

Each attendee will receive their own alphabeePRO account and separate access to the conference materials. If you are reserving a conference spot on behalf of someone else (e.g. a colleague or employee), please email info@alphabeepro.com for further steps.

 

16 CEUs Available

Over the two day span of the conference, participants will receive 16 BACB CEUs; 15 General CEUs along with 1 Ethics CEU for attending. Attendees will be required to sign in and out each day, attend the seminars in full, and complete the course evaluation in order to earn full CEU credit.

This course is designed for those who have or are pursuing BCBA/BCaBA/RBT certification and who have an understanding of ABA. Educators, other professionals, and those whose role uses ABA to design and implement programming to decrease behaviours and increase skill acquisition of individuals with autism and/or speech production issues may benefit from this course. The Behaviour Analyst Certification Board (BACB) has approved AlphaBee as an Authorized Continuing Education (ACE) Provider.

Presenter Biographies

 

Dr. Evelyn Gould, PhD, BCBA-D, CPsychol, is a Clinical Behaviour Analyst and Licensed Clinical Psychologist from Belfast, Northern Ireland. She currently resides in Los Angeles, California, where she lives with her partner and 3 cats. Evelyn’s pronouns are she/they. Evelyn is a clinician, trainer and supervisor at The New England Center for OCD and Anxiety, and an Assistant Clinical Professor at Keck School of Medicine at USC. They are also a Research Associate in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Evelyn has been providing clinical services to children, adults, and families for two decades, in addition to being engaged in applied research and scholarship. Evelyn has published peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on working with caregivers, clinical assessment and treatment, supervision and training, behaviour analysis and ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy). She is passionate about the dissemination of contextual behavioural science and addressing issues of diversity, equity and inclusion within and outside Behavior Analysis. Evelyn is a member of the LGBTQIA+ community and their work reflects personal and professional values of authenticity, compassion, social justice, and cultural humility. Evelyn strives to support and create affirmative and empowering spaces for young people and their families. Finally, Evelyn remains actively involved in a variety of Special Interest Groups, Task Forces and other volunteer groups within their professional and local communities.

 

Dr. Judah Axe received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Applied Behavior Analysis and Special Education from The Ohio State University. For the last 15 years, he has taught Behavior Analysis at Simmons University in the on-ground and online Masters and Ph.D. programs. He authored the 10th edition of Applied Behavior Analysis for Teachers and 35 articles and book chapters, mostly on teaching verbal behaviour and social skills to children with autism.

Dr. Axe serves on the Editorial Boards of several research journals and has served in leadership roles for the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI), the Verbal Behavior Special Interest Group (VB SIG), the Organization for Autism Research, and the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. He was overjoyed to receive the 2021 VB SIG Excellence in Teaching Verbal Behavior Award.

Refund Policy

If a registrant cannot attend the conference, please contact alphabeePRO at info@alphabeepro.com.

• You will receive a 100% refund if cancelling your order before July 31, 2023.
• You will receive a 50% refund for any refund requests made between August 1, 2023 and August 31, 2023.
• No refunds will be made after September 1, 2023.
• Substitutions may be made. Webinar access is transferrable.