Alamo Behavior Analysis

A message from our CEO, Heather Gonzales, PhD ??: I believe (and state in both my LinkedIn profile and my website ()) that I believe all learners should assent to be touched and should not be touched without their assent (including physical prompting). Obviously, when you're working with a learner with a nonvocal or nonverbal individual who can't sign or use AAC yet, or a learner with a co-occurring intellectual disability who struggles to self-advocate, assent can be a nebulous concept. I thought I would share my personal definitions of Assent and Dissent for touch here so you can see how I determine whether a learner is assenting to or rejecting my physical touch: ?? ASSENT FOR TOUCH?? : When touched by someone else, a learner displays one or all of the following with the absence of dissent/rejection behaviors: A.) displaying approach behaviors, like leaning into the touch, B.) positive affect (e.g., laughing, smiling), C. vocalizing or signing for "More", "Tickles", or more complex explicit mands for touch, or D.) idiosyncratic behaviors specific to the learner determined from caregiver report or observation. ?? DISSENT OR REJECTION OF PHYSICAL TOUCH: ?? When touched by someone else, a learner displays one or all of the following behaviors, EVEN in the presence of an assent behavior (rationale: we often laugh when tickled even if we are in distress AND/OR a learner might mask or otherwise think accepting touch is what is expected): A.) Physically moving away from touch (e.g., moving body part away, B.) Cringing, C.) negative affect (e.g., grimacing, frowning), C.) Manding in any modality for cessation (e.g., signing "No" or "Stop", vocalizing "No" or "Stop", showing vocal signs of distress like grunting, gasping, crying, or screaming), D.) Idiosyncratic signs that the learner does not want to be touched determined from caregiver report or from data collection. Caveat: These are MY operational definitions. They are not based on peer- reviewed research. They are based solely on observation and data collection across 20 years of service provision with highly impacted autistic individuals with co-occurring intellectual disabilities. Hope that helps! #ABA #AppliedBehaviorAnalysis #Autism #Autistic #Neurodivergent #Neurodivergence #Neurodiversity #BCBA #RBT www.alamobehavior.com

Check out these gorgeous and informative images about stims that may not be classically associated with autism (created by Harriet Richardson). See how many of them you yourself do and then consider whether you truly think it’s okay to stop autistic people from stimming, outside of dangerous stims or ones that interrupt learning excessively. We in ABA need to reject this practice completely. Follow Harriet Richardson for more information about diagnosing autism in girls and women. ?? Text from the creator of these images’ original post: “READ THIS ?? if have an upcoming autism assessment for yourself or your child! I have so many parents come for assessment who are unsure of stimming outside of more stereotypical autistic stims. There are sooooo many stims!! Stimming is such a natural thing that everyone does to some extent that we often don't realise people are stimming. Many stims can also be hidden, like cheek chewing! Or can be seen as just "bad habits" like nail biting. Stimming is so much about how the thing makes the person feel. Stimming has so many different functions including regulation, attention maintenance and expression. If you have an upcoming assessment for yourself or your child, save this post to help you provide additional evidence. Hope it helps! What are your stims?” #AutisticStimming #Stimming #NeurodevelopmentalAssessments #AutismAssessment #AuDHD #AutisticWomen #Autistic #Neurodivergent #StimmingPositivity #AutisticKids #Autism #Stimming #Neurodivergence #Neurodiversity #AppliedBehaviorAnalysis #ABA #BCBA

In 2012 I got shut down by a key note speaker at ABAI. I was doing a poster session. It centered on nonhuman primate research on anxiety and how their findings might help us make an anxiety scale to identify state and trait anxiety in autistic people with intellectual disabilities who could not speak, and therefore couldn’t participate in traditional strategies for diagnosing anxiety. First: two important pieces of information: Motor stereotypy is the academic term for stimming using the body Me studying nonhuman primates does NOT mean that I equated autistic people with ID with monkeys. In academic research, nonhuman primates are used as analogues for humans when the research is not ethical to be done on humans. The research question came up when I mused to an out-of-department professor that I thought stimming might be a sign that someone was anxious and not just an “autistic behavior” (which was the consensus in 2012). He asked me, how would you confirm that they were anxious if they can’t tell you? So, my research was born. Anyway, back to the story. One of the keynote speakers had presented on intervening to stop stereotypy (which I now vehemently reject). He walked up to my poster. I eagerly explained my research, which had simply been to go through a decade of all published papers that measured anxiety in primates and to code and present the nonvocal behavioral indicators of anxiety. I was eager to know his thoughts. Basically, he told me stereotypy (stimming) has nothing to do with anxiety. It’s an autistic trait. I was wrong. I was crushed, but regardless, I submitted my paper and it became the only first-author paper I have published. Turns out I WAS a little off-base, as the autistic community has clearly shared that stimming is a self-regulating behavior. However, it is, presumably, used to regulate anxiety in some cases. So, I was more right than “Big Name ABA researcher”. I tell you all this because I’m proud of my paper and I’d finally like to share it. I also tell you this because ABA writ large has been wrong about aspects of autism and here’s proof. Caveat: some of it is problematic. It was 2012 and I was a student in an ABA-based program. I had not done any work to make my mindset neurodiversity affirming. I use person-first language. I describe autism as a deficit model. Most unfortunately, I was forced to discuss how my scale could be validated and I had to share some possible concepts for studies that would “prove” that an autistic person was anxious while stimming, which is, of course, not okay. If you’re able to forgive me for being a mid-20’s researcher who didn’t know better, I would be honored if you read it. If you don’t have library access, message me at [email protected] and I will send it to you. #AppliedBehaviorAnalysis #ABA #Autism #Autistic #Academia #PhD #Research https://lnkd.in/gkiT-sYr

Message from our CEO, Dr. Heather Gonzales: Hi LinkedIn family! Alamo Behavior Analysis has updated our company profile. If my philosophies on ABA and listening to the neurodivergent community resonate with you and you are looking for part-time W-2 work as a BT, RBT, or supervising BCBA, please check out our company page and send me any questions or job inquiries to: [email protected] Telehealth BCBA work is only an option for low-acuity, straightforward cases and the behavior analyst must have an Arizona license. #AppliedBehaviorAnalysis #ABA #BCBA #RBT #Autism #Autistic #Neurodivergence #Neurodivergent #Neurodiversity

Check out this list of interventions that are considered abuse in Arizona. To be clear, these are behaviors restricted by providers who accept Division of Developmental Disability funds. These prohibitions do not apply to behavior analysts or ABA companies who don’t work with learners who have DDD funding. However, you should consider the kinds of interventions that the state of Arizona consider abusive. The law is called Article 9 and I had my recertification after 3 years, which roughly encompasses my journey into learning about why many autistic people oppose ABA and changing my practice to be as neurodivergence-affirming as I possibly can. These are considered abuse and are punishable by loss of license/credentials, fines, and/or jail time. EDIT: Some of these are still used in ABA, but as advocates below (see comments), the worst offenders are school staff. 1.) Forced seclusion: I don’t see this as a big problem in ABA, but if you ever prevent a learner from leaving or entering a room with your body, you are violating Article 9. So, you need to be VERY careful that a child being in a calm down room is 100% voluntary on their part. Some states would charge you with kidnapping if you closed a door with a child inside if you locked the door, even for 30 seconds. 2.) Overcorrection: Have you ever used overcorrection in potty training? DDD considers that abuse. 3.) Noxious Stimuli: This one is very nuanced, but if you are subjecting a learner to stimulation that is distressful (lights, sounds, smells), you are violating Article 9. 4.) Physical/Mechanical Restraint: The ONLY time a learner should be physically restrained is if they are at imminent risk of harm or at risk of harming others significantly, if the particular restraint has been approved by a peer-review committee, and the person restraining has been adequately trained (typically takes 8 hours and requires a procedural and written exam to become certified). If your ABA agency is asking you to restrain a learner without these requirements, you would be violating Article 9 and be liable for prosecution for abuse. 5.) Behavior-modifying medication: this probably isn’t happening in ABA service delivery. 6.) Electroshock: I’m just going to leave this here: https://lnkd.in/gyK8VxWq #StopTheShock Now, this post is not to shame any ABA professionals. You don’t know what you don’t know and you only know what you are taught. But, please consider this list and examine whether you, as a behavior analyst, are using these in your plans, or if you, as a BT are being asked to do them. Because, the law here in Arizona considers them ABUSE, whether or not you are subject to Article 9 provisions. #AppliedBehaviorAnalysis #ABA #Autism #Autistic #BCBA #RBT #DevelopmentalDisabilities

We often work with autistic people with high-support needs, but what is life like for those with lower support needs? This brief and clear article gives some examples of how exhausting it is to be an autistic adult in the workplace, community, and social settings. Keep in mind that, while your interventions may be life-changing, and may contribute to lower support needs at an adult, at the end of the day an autistic person will always be autistic. Autism is an ADA-protected disability. By definition, having this diagnosis means that one’s activities of daily living are impaired by aspects of being autistic. It is also an identity. When you’re working with a child, always think decades ahead when choosing targets. Will this skill ACTUALLY help this future adult in a fast-paced workplace? Will it improve their mental health? Or is it some meaningless LRFFC skill you pulled from a VB-MAPP to increase learning opportunities and satisfy the insurance company? #Autism #Autistic #ABA #BCBA https://lnkd.in/gjWPzKEU