The How to ABA Podcast

An independent activity schedule (IAS) is a tool made up of pictures or written cues that guides a child through a series of tasks on their own. It promotes independence and reduces the need for constant supervision, making it a valuable strategy for both school and home environments. In this episode, we dive into how to design an effective IAS, share creative schedule ideas, and walk you through how to teach it step-by-step.

Whether you're looking to encourage more independent behavior at school or help your child complete daily routines before screen time at home, an IAS can be a game-changer. We break down the three key phases of using an IAS, how to integrate open-ended tasks, and tips for prompting and tracking progress. Plus, we show you real-life examples so you can tailor a schedule that fits your needs.

Want more information on independent activity schedules? On June 12th, we’re hosting a CEU event: Independent Activity Schedules, Building Meaningful Play and Leisure Skills. Click the link below to register!

What’s Inside:

• How to create an independent activity schedule.
• How an IAS can help in both home and school settings.
• IAS data collection best practices.

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Join Our Next CEU Event

When it comes to successful interventions, knowing the “why” behind behaviors is key. As practitioners, we may have learned in school that there are four functions of behavior: escape, attention, tangible, and sensory. However, in practice, things aren’t always so cut and dry. Here, we dive into the roles of antecedents, triggers, and functions so we can better understand what drives challenging behavior.

In this conversation, we discuss setting events and how what comes right before a behavior helps us understand a learner’s missing skills. We look at how to best determine the function of a behavior and how to teach appropriate replacement skills. We also discuss synthesized reinforcement, the importance of conducting a functional behavior assessment, and reinforcement strategies.

What’s Inside:

• How setting events help us uncover missing skills
• How to determine the function of a behavior
• Examples of reinforcement strategies

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Free Antecedent Log

As BCBAs, each day we walk a fine line between keeping children safe while ensuring our interventions are compassionate, ethical, and effective. Prioritizing safety in behavior management is a non-negotiable and it doesn't have to come at the expense of empathy. Here, we discuss the best ways to balance safety and compassion in our interventions and how to ensure that the individuals we serve are not only protected but also respected and empowered. 

When developing interventions, it’s important to use the least intrusive, most effective strategies. We discuss how to build a foundation of trust and antecedent-based intervention as proactive strategies. We also cover the importance of regulation for both ourselves and our learners, how to determine whether corrective behavior is essential, and how to hold appropriate boundaries.

Dr. Hanley's Universal Protocol is a great guideline to have when balancing safety and compassion. Remind yourself of some best practices by downloading our Applying Universal Protocol Cheat Sheet below! 

What’s Inside:

• How to balance safety and compassion in our interventions
• The importance of building a foundation of trust
• How to determine if corrective behavior is essential

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Free Applying Universal Protocol Cheat Sheet
Episode 113: How to Maintain Client Dignity in ABA 

Challenging behaviors don't just happen out of nowhere. They have patterns, triggers, and underlying causes. The key to success is all about preventing them in the first place instead of reacting to the behaviors when they occur. Here, we discuss how to use both proactive and reactive strategies to effectively reduce challenging behaviors with our learners.

When working on challenging behaviors, setting yourself up for success makes all the difference. Proactive strategies are designed to prevent behaviors from occurring and we discuss how to create an environment where they’re less likely to happen. We also share tips on how to teach replacement skills and make environmental accommodations.

While we want to aim for a proactive approach, we can’t always prevent challenging behaviors. Sometimes, we need to use reactive strategies, and we discuss when and how to intervene. We also cover how to block and diffuse unsafe behaviors and how to analyze data to determine how well your strategies are working.

What’s Inside:

• How to use proactive and reactive strategies for challenging behaviors
• The importance of building trust with our learners
• How to block and diffuse unsafe behaviors

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Free ABC Data Sheet

When managing challenging behavior, our goal as behavior therapists is to reduce these behaviors and teach new skills. Here, we discuss how to do so without using strategies like extinction and planned ignoring. Through skill-based treatment, we not only reduce challenging behaviors but also replace them with positive functional skills.

Challenging behavior is often the result of skill deficits in areas like communication, being able to tolerate discomfort, and handling transitions. Skill-based treatment is a compassionate, proactive approach that prioritizes teaching skills that meet the same need as the challenging behavior but in a more appropriate way. We also cover practical functional assessments, why it’s important to start with trust and relationship building, and reinforcement techniques.

For a deeper dive into skill-based treatment, join our next live CEU event on Thursday, May 15, at 12pm EST called Effectively Addressing Challenging Behaviors Using Skills-Based Treatment (SBT) .


What’s Inside:

• How to use skill-based treatment to replace challenging behaviors
• Why it’s important to build a trusting relationship with our learners
• How to join our next live CEU event

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Join Our Next CEU Event 

Before our learners can independently manage their emotions, they need to first master co-regulation. For children, this looks like a trusted adult helping them to navigate big feelings by offering calm, supportive guidance. Here, we discuss how we can best help our learners master the skill of co-regulation and provide practical tips for making progress.

We begin by diving into the difference between terms like emotional regulation, co-regulation, and self-regulation. We discuss how to remain calm and collected so we can manage and temper our reactions. We also share tips on how to help learners identify their feelings, how to develop your own emotional regulation skills, and why practice and consistency in our strategies are important. 

What’s Inside:

• How to help learners master co-regulation skills
• Tips for helping learners identify feelings
• Why practice and consistency are important

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Three Point Scale Teaching Procedure

For many children, understanding and expressing emotions can be a challenge. They may struggle with recognizing their own feelings, reading emotions in others, or knowing how to respond appropriately in different situations. The good news is that emotional awareness is a skill that can be taught, modeled, and practiced with the right strategies.

In this conversation, we discuss the best ways to teach emotions to kids. We dive into how to assess a learner’s baseline and where to start teaching. We also discuss how to reduce rigidity in our teaching, teaching across operants, and generalization techniques.

What’s Inside:

• How to best teach emotions to children
• How to assess a learner’s baseline and where to start teaching
• Helpful generalization techniques

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Leanne Page is a mom, a BCBA, and the founder of Parenting with ABA. When she became a mother, Leanne realized how her training and education in behavior analysis gave her a leg up on discipline issues. She’s worked as a special education teacher in self-contained to inclusive settings, from elementary to high school. She also managed a center providing ABA services to children in 1:1 and small group settings.

Through Parenting with ABA, Leanne leverages her extensive experience in school and teacher training, therapist training, parent training, and providing direct services to children and families in a center-based or in-home therapy setting. Today, she spends a lot of time writing and creating trainings to help disseminate ABA and make it easy for all parents to digest and apply in their own lives. Leanne’s goal is to save parents’ sanity every day!

Here, Leanne shares her strategies for working with parents and her thoughts on emotional regulation. We discuss the risks of not acknowledging parents in our work as BCBAs, common mistakes we make, and tips for supporting parents better. Leanne also shares the benefits of incorporating mindfulness techniques with parents, the importance of self-compassion, and advice for newly minted BCBAs.

What’s Inside:

• How Leanne works with parents through Parenting with ABA
• BCBA tips to better support parents
• Advice for newly minted BCBAs

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Parenting with ABA 

Self-regulation is a challenge for many of our learners. Having a personalized regulation toolbox makes a huge difference in a child's ability to navigate their emotions and daily challenges. This toolbox is made up of a set of calming strategies tailored to each person’s unique needs. Here, we discuss how we can help learners develop the skill of self-regulation and a set of tools that works for them.

We start by talking through the importance of having an emotional regulation toolbox and how to help learners identify their triggers. We discuss how to look at functions of behavior and introduce replacement skills. We also discuss what to avoid when building a toolbox, how to foster independence in our learners, and how to tailor a toolbox to individual needs.

What’s Inside:

• How an emotional regulation toolbox helps learners navigate life’s challenges
• How to identify functions of behavior and introduce replacement skills
• How to tailor emotional regulation toolboxes to individual needs
  
  

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Calming Activities List

Emotional regulation is a foundational skill that influences how we manage stress, handle challenges, and connect with others. Here, we define emotional regulation and dive into all the reasons why it’s so important for our development and well-being. We also discuss how we, as BCBAs and practitioners, can help our learners strengthen this essential skill.

The term emotional regulation refers to the ability to recognize and manage one’s emotions in a way that supports appropriate behavior and well-being. We talk about the importance of uncovering the function of behavior and how to choose reinforcement strategies. We also share why we typically start with teaching co-regulation, how to use modeling and visuals, and the importance of consistency and practice.

What’s Inside:

• Why emotional regulation is necessary for our development and well-being
• How to teach emotional regulation skills to our learners
• How to choose the right teaching strategies 

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CEU: Teaching Emotional Regulation Strategies to Reduce Anxiety