In today’s blog you’ll get to hear from Intern-turned-Field Coordinator Taylor Dye. Taylor started off at VB as an intern and eventually finished her master’s program and is now overseeing her own field team! Here’s Taylor’s story with a little advice and lessons learned along the way. Tell us about your first day as…
Do you mind if we burst with pride for a second and give some props to one of our own? Shari Pincus, Clinical Supervisor with Verbal Beginnings, recently had her article, Context influences preference for and level of physical activity of adolescents with intellectual and developmental disabilities, published in one of the most distinguished ABA…
In this edition of ABA Behind the Scenes, Jami Hardy, MS, BCBA, LGPC, talks about replacement behaviors and their integration into the ABA process. A mand is a request for something wanted or needed, or a request to end something undesirable. Manding is one of the first forms of communication naturally acquired, observed as early…
In this edition of ABA Behind the Scenes, Jami Hardy, MS, BCBA, LGPC, talks about replacement behaviors and their integration into the ABA process Replacement behaviors are used to substitute behaviors that limit learning and inclusion, with behaviors that help promote success in the classroom and across daily-living tasks. Developing replacement behavior is a three-part…
In today’s blog you’ll get to hear the amazing story of VB’s Senior Therapist, Hannah Hudson, and her journey into the world of ABA; from intern to RBT to Lead Therapist to Senior Therapist. We believe in our staff and support their dreams so hats off to you Hannah and thanks for letting us showcase…
Congratulations! You officially passed that oh-so-fun BCBA exam and you can finally put those four letters after your name. All of your hard work in graduate school has led to this day and while you learned all about Applied Behavior Analysis in your studies, there are many things about being a Board Certified Behavior Analyst…
As a behavior analyst and a yoga teacher, it’s been difficult to exist in these two contrasting worlds. In behavior analysis, we focus on observable, measurable behaviors and avoid thoughts and feelings (private events) at all costs. Conversely, my yoga trainings have focused on being in the present moment, cultivating acceptance of one’s self, and…
Extinction occurs when behavior with a history of being reinforced no longer results in access to reinforcement. Extinction is generally put into place for behaviors we want to see less of, and should only be used in combination with reinforcement for appropriate replacement behaviors. Extinction may be illustrated in a variety of ways depending on…
I’ve had the opportunity to meet many children of different ages since I began working with selective eaters. In 2016 I became the Director of the Healthy Beginnings program and since then, the most common request that I receive from parents as we plan to work on behavior at mealtime is; can we come for…
The Healthy Beginnings feeding program has been a part of the Verbal Beginnings Center for three years as of this June. When I became the director of this program, I set a goal to offer quality ABA-based therapy to address mealtime behavior. Therefore, our therapists include Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) and Registered Behavior Technicians…
In this edition of ABA Behind the Scenes, Jami Hardy, MS, BCBA, LGPC, will be examining positive and negative punishment regarding your child’s behavior. In everyday conversation when the word punishment is used, more often punitive actions are being described. In ABA, punishment means the chances of a behavior happening again have decreased as a…
In this edition of ABA Behind the Scenes, Jami Hardy, MS, RBT, LGPC, will be examining positive and negative reinforcement regarding your child’s behavior. When we discuss reinforcement in ABA we are talking about increasing behavior as a result of an event that followed the behavior. In other words, we’re more likely to do something…
If you’re a parent with a very picky eater at home, meals can easily become a dreaded time of day for both you and your child. Over the years, many parents have reported to me that the dinner table transforms into a battleground when green veggies are present or if the pasta is elbow shaped…
What drives us at Verbal Beginnings? Seeing lives changed. Seeing kids and families change. Seeing ourselves change. This is what motivates us and what pushes us on to make better programs, to become better people, and ultimately, make the world a better place. If you somehow missed it, this spring we celebrated the grand opening…
People from all around the world recognize April as the “month of blue,” specifically, Autism Awareness Month. It’s a vital time to raise general public knowledge about autism, rally the community for positive change, and inform some pre-held beliefs about autism that may not be true. To close out this special month of awareness and…
Marta didn’t eat very many foods, which is how I came to know her. She liked goldfish, but they had to be plain yellow goldfish otherwise she wouldn’t touch them. Marta would eat some fruits, but no vegetables. She used to eat pasta and French fries, but now she wouldn’t touch them. Marta’s refusal also…
In this edition of ABA Behind the Scenes, Jami Hardy, MS, BCBA, LGPC, talks on how the function of certain behaviors can tell us why those behaviors are occurring. Within the field of ABA, before we begin to help someone effectively change his or her behavior, it’s important that we first understand the function of…
When I first met Kyler, he had been entirely dependent on his feeding tube for nearly four years. As an infant, he didn’t eat very well and often times, he wouldn’t stay awake long enough to consume enough to grow. The feeding tube was supposed to be a temporary solution after an episode of dehydration,…
Verbal Beginnings recently had the opportunity to be a sponsor at the Women in Behavioral Analysis (WIBA) Conference in Nashville, TN. This is the third year the conference has taken place and it proved to be a big success. ABA professionals from around the nation were able to come together and collaborate through a shared…
In this edition of ABA Behind the Scenes, Jami Hardy, MS, BCBA, LGPC, will be walking us through what happens before and after a particular behavior occurs and how it affects future behavior. To understand why behavior occurs, we need to know what happens before, during, and after the behavior. In ABA, when we discuss…