Annual Post ABAI Clinical SIG Summary

 

Hello all,

 

We had a good turn out at this year's Clinical SIG meeting and we had a large number of people express interest in the SIG at the Expo.

 

For those new to the Clinical SIG, the SIG uses a Yahoo Groups list serve for regular communication.  This will be the last SIG email sent to your regular address until the list is updated again after the 2010 convention.  To receive regular SIG updates join the list serve at http://groups.yahoo.com/ and search for "ABA Clinical SIG" where you can self-enroll.

 

ABAI Leadership announcements:

1. Professional Insurance will be offered to ABAI members in the Fall of 2009.  This is a professional insurance program for students, behavior analysts, psychologists, and researchers.  This will provide a competitor to the APA Trust insurance many folks use.  Coverage will be available for the US, Canada, and several European countries.  Watch the ABAI web site for future details.
2. There are new legal advocacy resources posted on the ABAI web site at http://www.abainternational.org/BA/practice.asp .  Members are encouraged to use these resources to more effectively lobby at the state and federal levels.  We especially recommend the PowerPoint presentation posted there that gives excellent tips on how to more effectively advocate http://www.abainternational.org/BA/practice/Dorsey-Advocacy.pdf .
3. Pat Friman, a clinical behavior analyst, is the incoming president for the 2010 convention.  Now is a great time for the Clinical SIG to increase the number and visibility of the CBA offerings at the ABAI convention.

 

Solicitations from other SIGS

The Dissemination of BA SIG is petitioning the Clinical SIG membership for help with checking the accuracy of publicly available materials related to behavior analysis.  The DBA-SIG does not have any clinical behavior analysts within their membership and they would like to solicit the Clinical SIG's knowledge and expertise on several issues.  The DBA-SIG has done a lot of work on Wikipedia and can help Clinical SIG members with the logistics of updating content.  To get involved please contact them through their web site at http://www.aboutbehavior.com/ .

 

NEW SIG BUSINESS

 

Recruitment

The Clinical SIG is going to try some new initiatives to increase the number of clinical behavior analysts attending the ABAI annual conference and improve the offerings available to clinicians and clinical researchers.

1. Bring'em back: a large portion of ABAI & SIG membership is students and we have a poor track record for retention.  A suggestion was made to send previous members a personal invitation to return to ABAI.
1. Action Item 1:  D.J. Moran volunteered to comb through old ABA convention books and compile a list of old clinical presenters to contact.  If you are interested in lending DJ a hand, contact him at Daniel.moran@... .
2. PSY CE's: Many clinicians may drift away from the ABAI convention because they need to attend other conferences to get their CE needs met.  Although ABAI does have an agreement with APA regarding offering CE's for workshops (provided the appropriate paperwork is completed), the Clinical SIG has not been involved with monitoring whether these offerings meet the needs of clinicians.  The SIG could also be used to coordinate workshop offerings.
1. Action Item 2:  Jonathan Kantor will follow up with ABA regarding how PSY CE's are currently handled for workshops.  We will also need to know what we would need to do to make events that fit within the regular convention program CE eligible as well.  Possible online resources to reference are:

http://www.abainternational.org/BA/practice_PSYCE.asp

http://www.abainternational.org/BA/practice/CoSponsCE.pdf

2. Action Item 3:  identify the common content area requirements for PSY CE's so the SIG can try to coordinate workshop offerings to meet the full needs of potential members.  Jonathan Kantor and Amy Murrell will follow up on this information and report back to the list serve.
3. Action Item 4:  if there are unexpected obstacles to increasing the types of sessions that offer PSY CEs at ABAI, we may be able to use the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS) as a co-sponsor for sessions since ACBS is a PSY CE provider.  DJ Moran will follow-up with Emily of ACBS regarding this possibility.

 

ABAI 2010 Convention in San Antonio

At the meeting SIG members discussed the types of sessions that the SIG should work to coordinate.  We also discussed strategies for making clinical sessions BCBA CE eligible to improve session attendance and to provide opportunities for those working in developmental disabilities to learn more about how behavior analysis is applied in a wider variety of settings.

Topics:

1. Introduction to clinical behavior analysis
2. Dual diagnosis issues with developmental disabilities and pervasive developmental disorders
1. Action Item 5:  Jonathan Kantor will contact the Autism and DD program chairs regarding ideas to present to the Clinical SIG list serve.
2. Action Item 6:  Tom Waltz and Amy Murrell will contact the Autism SIG and other SIG chairs regarding ideas to present to the Clinical SIG list serve.
3. Clinical interventions with teens such as:

â—‹       Eating disorders—Alix Timko?

â—‹       ADHD

â—‹       Adolescent depression and anxiety

â—‹       Oppositional defiance and serious behavioral problems in non-DD individuals

Opportunity:  We need SIG members to volunteer take the lead on these topics if these sessions are going to happen.

4. Panel Discussions as Clinical Roundtables:  it was suggested at the meeting that the SIG help coordinate sessions where actual cases are presented.  Specific suggestions included:

â—‹       Video tapes of therapy—illustrating a therapeutic approach

â—‹       Video tapes of intake sessions followed by master clinicians providing competing case conceptualizations.

This would be an exciting addition to the clinical program offerings.  However, therapists and treatment teams need to start looking for appropriate materials now so that materials can have signed releases in time for next ABAI submission deadline.

 

Visibility

To remove the barriers to having BCBA convention attendees attend clinical sessions, the Clinical SIG will work to build a match system to place BCBA's on session submissions as session chairs.  Having a BCBA session chair is the minimal requirement for BCBA CE eligibility.

â—‹       Action Item 7:  Tom Waltz and Amy Murrell will solicit the BCBA list for BCBA's willing to chair clinical sessions at the convention so CE's can be offered.

 

We would like to thank everyone for a productive meeting and we are looking forward to working together to improve the clinical behavior analysis offering at ABAI.

 

Thomas J. Waltz, Ph.D.

Chair of Clinical SIG

 

Amy Murrell

Vice-Chair of Clinical SIG