When our learners lose a game or have to share a toy, they can become extremely frustrated. To help them adapt to new routines and expectations, we teach them social flexibility. When we’re socially flexible, we can adjust our behavior and communication based on the situation and people involved. Social flexibility greatly improves our learners’ social interactions, helps them manage their emotions, and allows them to deal with daily challenges.

Here, we discuss how to successfully teach social flexibility to our learners. We discuss the benefits of using an ACT-based approach as well as teaching methods for students without language skills. We also share some real-world examples of teaching social flexibility, how to utilize priming, using reinforcement without triggering challenging behavior, and more.

What’s Inside:

• How to teach social flexibility 
• The benefits of using an ACT-based approach
• How to use reinforcement without triggering challenging behavior

Mentioned In This Episode:

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ACT Committed Actions Planner

When our learners are faced with an uncomfortable situation or presented with something they don’t want, they don’t always have someone there to advocate for them. Because of this, it’s critical for us to teach them how to advocate for themselves at an early age. Here, we discuss the importance of self-advocacy and how to best teach it to our learners.

We cover the differences between self-advocacy and appropriate protesting and how to teach learners to know what’s safe and what isn’t. We also discuss how to use priming and fading to correct challenging behaviors, how to use role play, and why communication among team members is key.

What’s Inside:

• How to teach our learners self-advocacy
• The difference between self-advocacy and appropriate protests
• The importance of communication among team members

Mentioned In This Episode:
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The BST Model – Behavioral Skills Training
Teaching Appropriate Protests in ABA

When things don’t go as planned or we experience sudden schedule changes, we become disappointed or frustrated. For children with autism, unexpected disruptions in routine or a person’s actions often lead to them demonstrating challenging behaviors. In order to help our learners become more flexible, we can use these moments to teach tolerance.

Here, we discuss how to help our learners tolerate the stress that comes with things not going their way. Many become stuck and have trouble moving on from one thing to another when they’re faced with unplanned changes in routine. We talk about how to uncover the root cause of their rigidity and reasons behind behaviors. We also discuss how to choose the right examples to work with, how to utilize priming (or pre-teaching), and how to remain supportive through the process.

On February 20th at 12pm EST, we’re hosting a CEU event called Teaching Tolerance: A Flexible Approach to Behavior Management. Click the link below to learn more and register!

What’s Inside:

• How to teach tolerance to our learners
• How to utilize priming (or pre-teaching)
• Information on our upcoming CEU

Mentioned In This Episode:
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Sign up for our next CEU event!
Episode 148: Hanley’s Approach to Teaching Tolerance and Delay 

Whenever we feel on edge, frustrated, or exhausted, taking time out for a moment of mindfulness helps us hit the pause button and relax. Incorporating mindfulness and relaxation techniques in our programs can help our learners do the same. Here, we approach mindfulness from a behavioral analytic perspective and walk through how to bring more present-moment awareness into our work with clients.

Our thoughts really do have a strong impact on our behaviors, and mindfulness helps create a space between the two. We discuss how to practice acknowledging feelings, how to decide whether or not to act on them, and how to teach this to our students. We also discuss how to use mindfulness when addressing challenging behavior, breathing exercises, body-based practices, and more.

What’s Inside:

• How to incorporate mindfulness into our programs
• How to create space between thoughts and behavior
• Mindfulness exercises and practices

Mentioned In This Episode:
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ACT Committed Actions Planner

Emily Varon is a BCBA, a sleep educator, and the founder of Ready Set Sleep. Ready Set Sleep is also home to the Sleep Collective, the first sleep certification program for BCBAs. Emily returns to the podcast to share more of her passion for sleep and give us an update. Since we last spoke, Emily’s certified 111 behavioral sleep specialists and is coming up on the first recertification cycle!

No matter how experienced you are as a BCBA, sleep can be an intimidating task to tackle, and Emily provides a place to receive proper training and guidance. Here, Emily shares some of the current research she’s involved in and details on a new tool she’s developing for BCBAs. She also shares how to take a sensitive approach with parents, tips for breaking down barriers to progress, and advice for new BCBAs just starting to explore sleep.

What’s Inside:

• An update on Ready Set Sleep and the Sleep Collective
• How to take a sensitive approach to sleep with parents
• Advice for new BCBAs 

Mentioned In This Episode:
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Ready Set Sleep
The Sleep Collective

Individuals with trauma histories often feel on edge or misunderstood. As practitioners, it’s important to take trauma into account when designing behavior interventions for our learners. It’s our job to ensure we’re not only shaping behavior but taking an approach that focuses on long-term healing and empathy. Here, we discuss trauma-sensitive behavior interventions and how to incorporate trauma-informed care in our roles as BCBAs.

We talk about the difference between trauma-informed care and trauma-specific services and why the first step in our approach should be acknowledgement. We also discuss the importance of building rapport with our clients and creating a safe environment, real-life examples of a trauma-informed approach in action, and the importance of focusing on skill building.


What’s Inside:

• How to incorporate a trauma-informed approach when designing behavior interventions
• How to build rapport with clients and create a safe environment
• Real-life examples of a trauma-informed approach in action

Mentioned In This Episode:
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Applying Universal Protocols Cheat Sheet
Compassionately Targeting Challenging Behavior with ABA 

Dr. Camille Kolu is a behavioral scientist from Cusp Emergence in Colorado. Dr. Kolu has about 20 years of autism treatment experience and has collaborated with or worked for nonprofits, families, diverse educational facilities, and groups in Texas and Colorado to provide effective autism treatment and support for those affected by developmental or other disabilities.

Dr. Kolu brings together creative service, best practices, and a background in both behavior analysis and behavioral neuroscience to strengthen community fabrics through education, relationships, and behavioral support. She also focuses on TIBA, or trauma-informed behavior analysis, and Shayna recently took Dr. Kolu’s course on trauma sensitivity.

Here, Dr. Kolu shares her career journey and what led her to the work she’s involved in today. We discuss how trauma impacts behavior and the six “buffers” in behavior analysis. Dr. Kolu also shares tips for preventing and managing staff burnout, how the field has evolved around the concept of trauma-informed care, and her advice to new BCBAs in the field.

We’re also hosting a webinar with Dr. Kolu on January 22nd at 3:30pm EST. Head to our website to sign up!

What’s Inside:

• The six “buffers” in behavior analysis
• Tips for preventing and managing staff burnout
• Advice for newly minted BCBAs

Mentioned In This Episode:
HowToABA.com/join
How to ABA on YouTube
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Cusp Emergence Website

Can you believe we’re wrapping up another year? As we approach the end of 2025, we wanted to reflect on some of the highlights of 2024 in a How To ABA year in review. We share some major personal and professional wins and look back on some of the best topics and guests we’ve had on the podcast.

Our favorite highlights include our work with Dr. Alan Schnee, conferences we’ve attended, and our collaboration podcast with ABA Inside Track. Our favorite guests include Dr. Peter Gerhardt, Jenna Mazzillo of ABA Naturally, Dr. Saul Axelrod, Dr. Cody Morris from Behavior Analysis and Practice, and so many others! We also touch on some of our CEUs we’ve offered and what we have in store for 2025.

What’s Inside:

• A look back on How To ABA’s 2024 highlights
• Reflections on our favorite guests and topics
• Our plans for 2025

Mentioned In This Episode:
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Join our Behavior Resource Pro Membership

After our students learn to answer WH questions, the next step is to teach them inferencing skills. Students need to learn how to make inferences, or to predict future events and what will happen next. However, understanding the hidden meaning in stories and social interactions can be challenging, especially for those on the autism spectrum. Here, we discuss the best ways to teach inferencing to these learners. 

Before we start to teach inferencing, it’s important to look for certain prerequisite skills which we cover also cover here. We also discuss sequencing and using scenarios, teaching to mastery, linguist systems, and reading comprehension.

What’s Inside:

• How to teach inferencing skills
• How to identify prerequisite skills in learners
• How to teach inferencing skills to mastery

Mentioned In This Episode:
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Book – Verbal Reasoning
WH Questions eBook

Attention-seeking behavior is quite common; however, our learners often don’t know how to wait to receive attention. They also may not know how to properly seek attention, and it’s our job to teach them. Here, we discuss the value of attention and effective strategies to teach our learners how to request and gain attention.

We start by defining attention-seeking behaviors and how to assess them, including how to identify more subtle behaviors and the importance of identifying the function of the behavior. We also discuss how to introduce replacement skills, request attention programs, proper use of reinforcement, and how to use role play and practice scenarios.

What’s Inside:

• Strategies to teach our learners how to request and gain attention
• How to introduce replacement skills
• How to use role play and practice scenarios

Mentioned In This Episode:
HowToABA.com/join
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Functions of Behavior Cheat Sheet