The holidays are a happy and exciting time of year. As parents, we want to be able to give our children all the fun and magic that comes with the season. There is little more rewarding than a child’s holiday smile, however, with all the cold weather, schedule changes, and loud noises, every family is…
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Life is better with goals. They give you a direction and a purpose. They can help motivate you to achieve things that take months or even years to attain…things with long-deferred reinforcers that would otherwise have no effect on your behavior. And goals can help give you that extra “boost” when times are tough and…
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Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is growing by leaps and bounds every year. This means training programs are in greater demand than ever. With hundreds of Verified Course Sequences now available for the Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) credential, knowing where to begin when searching for an ABA Master’s Program can seem overwhelming. Mentorship…
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If you’ve begun your journey to receive an Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis, or other pediatric behavioral diagnosis, you may have come across other parents, teachers, and caregivers who have warned you of the dreaded waitlist process. Autism waitlists are currently a universal barrier to medical diagnoses and effect families living in both rural and urban…
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Knowing if a career change is going to help you achieve your professional goals can be difficult. Given the large number of jobs available in the Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) industry today, I talked to the Verbal Beginnings team to hear about the supportive training environment they provide for practitioners of all experience levels. …
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As a fresh cohort of newly minted Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) celebrate their passing of the certification exam, knowing where to even start on the journey to becoming a BCBA can be confusing. However, there are many exciting ABA careers available to those who become BCBAs, making the confusion well worth the reward. While…
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It is a scenario that parents have experienced again and again: someone says your child may benefit from a diagnostic evaluation. Perhaps you went into your pediatrician’s office for your child’s well visit and walked out with a referral for a diagnostic evaluation, or perhaps your child’s teachers have expressed some concern about his or…
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It is no secret that Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) has been incredibly effective when working with children and adults diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). So much so, that members of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board recently published an article in the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management acknowledging that, though the Board Certified Behavior Analyst…
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In a previous article, we have discussed the unique overlapping support systems in place for behavior analysts at Verbal Beginnings. Today we will discuss a different dimension of support, which is provided after the offer letter goes out and the onboarding process begins. The goal here is to ensure that new Board Certified Behavior Analysts…
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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…
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These days, Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) are in high demand for Autism Spectrum Disorder treatment. With so many employment options available, it can be difficult to tell quality Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) providers from the rest. I recently sat down with Nick Chappell, Diana Wolf, and Jennifer Gruber, of Verbal Beginnings to hear about…
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Setting up an in-home ABA program for your child is easy given the right supports. Typically, a program is viewed as therapy provided by a BCBA and a Registered Behavior Technician. These positions are the heart of your program and should require your full attention. However, the process of setting up and managing your program…
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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 battle ground when green veggies are present or if the pasta is elbow…
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For most children, summer is a time for playing in the sun and learning through play. The fun times had in the sun with other children are key to children’s development of social, emotional, physical, and intellectual growth. As typically developing children play they tend to spontaneously learn skills from one another and from the…
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At Verbal Beginnings, intervention focuses on increasing a variety of areas within each learner’s repertoire, including verbal behavior, social skills, functional life skills, and group instruction skills. Within this blog, we will focus on the development of speech and language, or verbal behavior as we, as behavior analysts, refer to it. Both children and adults…
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Summer is here, the kids are out of school, and it’s time for that family road trip! But let’s not kid each other – road trips make for great memories, but can also come with stressors. Often times your family is packed into a vehicle for hours, if not days, at a time. Hotel rooms…
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Summer is upon us again! And for parents that means one thing – school is out, and the kids are at home. On one hand, that means the morning rush of getting the kids out of the house is done for the foreseeable future. You may even get to sleep in a bit, and enjoy…
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It’s May, and that means a fresh crop of college grads are looking to start new careers. If this is you, you may be considering your path forward in life. You may have student loans to pay, and yet, still be seeking your purpose as a professional. After putting in years of hard study and…
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Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), school districts are required to provide services outside of the regular school year to qualifying individuals. In order to qualify for ESY, a child must already have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) in place, and demonstrate either a regression in skills, or show evidence of emerging pivotal skills…
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April is autism awareness month. Launched over two decades ago by the Autism Society, the whole month is designed to bring awareness of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to those who may know nothing or who may be misinformed about ASD, and to increase acceptance of individuals diagnosed with ASD. A casual glance at Google trend…
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