Newsletter
Volume 28 | 2005 | Number 3
Update from the SABA President
Linda J. Parrott Hayes, Ph.D.
Dr. Linda J. Parrott Hayes
The mission of the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis (SABA) is to provide financial support for such projects and activities as are held to advance the field of behavior analysis. Toward the accomplishment of its mission, SABA pursues three primary objectives. These include:
1) distributing Grants to support the development of behavior analysis around the world, Fellowships to foster students’ scientific careers, and Awards to acknowledge outstanding contributions of individuals and organizations to the advancement of behavior analysis; 2) sustaining an organizational structure capable of accepting donations and otherwise generating and managing the funds needed to achieve its goals; and 3) providing financial support for worthy activities of the Association for Behavior Analysis (ABA), as well as and serving as a conduit for external sources of support for those activities. Some of the outcomes of SABA’s efforts to achieve these objectives over the past year are described below.
SABA Grants
The International Development Fund provides for three $1,000 International Developments Grants to be awarded annually, through a competitive process. In 2005, these grants were given to support projects developed by: Aldo Hernández Barrios and Vladimir Bernal Alfonso, of Colombia; Martti T. Toumisto, of Finland; and Dennis O’Hora, of Northern Ireland. Brief descriptions of these projects follow.
Colombia: Behavior Analysis Training in a Clinical Psychology Context
Aldo Hernández Barrios and Vladimir Bernal Alfonso have developed a program that will allow undergraduate psychology students at the Universidad Católica de Colombia, Unidad de Servicios Psicológicos, to fulfill their professional practice work in a clinical setting. The curriculum has two main parts, the first covering behavior therapy, the second, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. The following topics are covered in the first part: the philosophical underpinnings of behavior analysis and their implications for clinical practice; single-case methodology; appropriate ways to molecularize and identify clinically relevant behavior; and sensitive data collection, measurement, and interpretation strategies; and standard categorization systems. The second part of the curriculum focuses on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and includes coverage of experiential avoidance, the differences between contingency-shaped and rule-governed behavior, the role of verbal behavior and private events in clinically relevant behaviors, as well as intervention strategies with respect to value systems and for belief revaluation. The program will finish by drawing parallels between behavior therapy and Acceptance and Commitment and Therapy. The program takes 30 academic weeks to complete.
Finland: A University Training Program in Applied and Clinical Behavior Analysis in Tampere, Finland (Institute for Extension Studies, University of Tampere in Cooperation with the Department of Psychology).
Dr. Martti T. Tuomisto has designed a program of studies for 20 to 30 participants to learn behavior analysis well enough to become Board Certified. The course will include 210 hours of education and proceed during two years’ time to ensure careful and comprehensive learning. The course will adhere to empirically validated behavioral principles and philosophical premises. This will be done by using the recommendations of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (task lists and content areas) and texts that have been used in earlier courses leading to certification (e.g., the general texts described in BACB recommendations). Dr. Tuomisto will continue writing a Finnish text on functional behavior analysis and add text to ensure that the terms and concepts will be accurately and correctly used and translated into Finnish. Three professors will be responsible for the course: Martti T. Tuomisto, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor, Raimo Lappalainen, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor, and Tero Timonen, Psy.D., Adjunct Professor. Upon completion, students will serve their employers and clients and form a network of skilled behavior analysts. Some of the participants will be university teachers of behavior analysis and will disseminate their knowledge to others in Finland.
Northern Ireland: Development of a BCBA Master’s Degree Program
Dr. Denis O’Hora and his colleagues at the University of Ulster will utilize the international development grant to set up the first Master’s Program in Behavior Analysis in Northern Ireland and the first BCBA approved course sequence in Ireland. The first goal of the project will be to train capable behavior analysts who can address the shortfalls in behavioral support services for persons with autism in Northern Ireland. Behavioral treatments are available in the Republic of Ireland but there is a dearth of services in Northern Ireland. The second goal will be to provide a level of training in applied behavior analysis in Ireland that is internationally recognized. There are approximately 250 people involved in delivering ABA services in the Republic of Ireland and yet there is no control over who may and may not call themselves behavior analysts. The University of Ulster has four behavior analysts (Julian Leslie, Mickey Keenan, Robert Bones and Denis O’Hora) on staff and is recruiting a fifth, thus providing sufficient resources to achieve both these goals.
SABA Fellowships, Endowments, and Student Presenters’ Funds
The SABA Fellowship Funds come from the generosity of ABA members. Financial donations in excess of $100,000 generate sufficient interest incomes to make these awards possible. At present, fellowships are awarded to doctoral students, by way of competitive processes, in two areas of concentration annually, and unrestricted donations are accumulating toward the delivery of a new fellowship in a third area. The means by which these Fellowships have been made available, the criteria by which they are awarded, and the current and past awardees are indicated below.
The Sidney W. and Janet R. Bijou Fellowship provides an annual fellowship of $5,000 to a doctoral student investigating child development from a behavior analytic perspective. The funds for this fellowship were provided by a $100,000 donation from Sidney and Janet Bijou. A subsequent contribution from the Bijou family allowed for the distribution of a second $5,000 fellowship annually. SABA is pleased to announce the recipients of the Sidney W. and Janet R. Bijou Fellowship for 2006. They are Elizabeth Adams of the University of Florida and Sarah O’Connor of the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. (Please see featured articles about these awardees on elsewhere in this newsletter.) Past winners of the Sidney W. and Janet R. Bijou Fellowship have included: Claire St. Peter, University of Florida; Jason Stricker, University of Iowa; Terry Falcomata, University of Iowa; Anna I. Pettursdottir, Western Michigan University; Marleen Adema, University of Wales, Bangor; Caio Miguel, Western Michigan University; John Borrero, University of Florida; Michael Mueller, University of Southern Mississippi; James Moore, University of Southern Mississippi; Aida Sanchez, Florida International University; and Hiselgis Perez, Florida International University.
The SABA Experimental Analysis of Behavior Fellowship provides an annual fellowship to a doctoral student in psychology or behavior analysis who is conducting research in the experimental analysis of behavior. The funds for this fellowship were provided by unrestricted donations from a great many ABA members over a several year period. SABA is pleased to announce the recipient of the SABA Experimental Analysis of Behavior Fellowship for 2006. She is Bethany Raiff of the University of Florida. (Please see a featured article about the awardee elsewhere in this newsletter.) Past winners of the SABA Experimental Analysis of Behavior Fellowship have included: Christopher A. Podlesnik, Utah State University; Shawn Charlton, University of California, San Diego; Kazuhiro Goto, University of Exeter, UK; and Christian Krageloh, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
The SABA International Endowment Fund will award an annual endowment to support the international development in behavior analysis once the $100,000 principle for this award has been established by members’ donations. Approximately $33,000 is needed to achieve this goal., and we encourage your support for this critical initiative. The SABA Student Presenters Fund provides reimbursement of registration fees for senior student presenters at annual ABA conventions. These awards are given to applicants meeting a pre-convention deadline on a first-come, first-serve basis until available donations are exhausted. As of 2001, international students have been given priority for awards remaining after the application deadline, by random selection. The opportunity to make donations to the Student Presenters’ Fund was initiated in 1999. Since that time, donations to this fund have increased seven-fold, with 202 students receiving reimbursements for their conference registration fees in 2005.
SABA Awards
The SABA Awards acknowledge outstanding contributions of individuals and organizations to the advancement of behavior analysis in seven areas of impact. Nominations for these awards are solicited from ABA members. While all seven awards may be given annually, this is not always the case. The criteria by which nominees are selected for these awards and past recipients are indicated below. The 2006 will not be announced until the next issue of the newsletter, however.
The Award for Distinguished Service to Behavior Analysis is given to an individual who has demonstrated sustained contributions to behavior analysis over several years in teaching, research and/or practice. Past winners have been Jon Bailey, Beth Sulzer-Azaroff, Victor Laties, Jack Michael, Murray Sidman, Sidney W. Bijou, Ogden Lindsley, Montrose Wolf, Donald Baer, Joseph Brady, and Philip Hineline.
The Award for Impact of Science on Application is given for experimental/theoretical innovations in behavior analysis with significant impact on applications. The criteria specify that the impact should be demonstrated, but the winner does not have to have carried out these applications. Past winners have been Howard Rachlin and Tony Nevin. The Award for Effective Presentation of Behavior Analysis in the Mass Media is given to an individual who writes or produces printed, audio, or video information that disseminates the science of behavior to a broad audience and in whose work the principles of behavior and the effects of their applications are accurately presented. Past winners have been Ivar Lovaas, Richard Foxx, John Palfreman, Roger McIntire, James Partington, Scott Geller, Karen Pryor, Catherine Maurice, Gary Wilkes, and Paul Chance.
The Award for International Dissemination of Behavior Analysis is given to an individual who has made significant contributions to the international development of behavior analysis. Pasts winners have been R. Douglas Greer, Michael Davison, Maria Malott, Paolo Moderato, Carolina Bori, Liliana Mayo, Comunidad los Horcones, Emilio Ribes-Inesta, Masayo Sato, and Murray Sidman.
The Award for Public Service in Behavior Analysis is given to an individual in the public or private sector who addresses socially significant problems using methods or principals of behavior analysis. Past winners have been Robert Mager, Michael Hemingway (posthumously), Douglas Carnine, Richard Malott, Kent Johnson, Charles Schuster, Gerald Shook, Aubrey Daniels, Brian Iwata, Gina Green, and John Jacobson.
The Award for Enduring Programmatic Contributions to Behavior Analysis is given to an agency, department, or facility that contributes to the ongoing and enduring development of behavior analysis. Past winners have been The New England Center for Children, West Virginia University Department of Psychology, the Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, the University of Florida, the E. K. Shriver Center Behavioral Technology Group, the University of Kansas, the Princeton Child Development Institute, and Western Michigan University Department of Psychology.
SABA’s Assets
As of October 31, 2005, SABA’s assets totaled $565,562, up from $531,170 on this date in 2004. The Bijou Fellowship Fund makes up 59% of SABA’s current assets, followed by 21% in the Experimental Analysis Fellowship Fund, 10% in the International Endowment Fund, and the remaining 10% in other restricted and unrestricted funds.
SABA would like to give special recognition to Henry and Susanne Pennypacker for their donation of 350 shares of Vodaphone stock for the development of the Pennypacker Lecture Prize Fund. A similar donation was made to the Cambridge Center for Behavior Studies with the aim of engaging the Center and SABA in collaborative efforts to achieve the goals envisioned for the fund, to which SABA looks forward.
The Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis was established for the purpose of mediating the future of our discipline. It is only if behavior analysts, alone or collectively, are committed to the future of behavior analysis that SABA can fulfill her purpose, though. As of October, 2005, 240 members and organizations contributed to the advancement of behavior analysis by way of their generous donations to SABA. The SABA donors are listed on page 5 of this newsletter. While there are many other ways that behavior analysts demonstrate their commitment to the future of our field, we hope that making a donation to SABA will be one of those ways. (And remember, you will get a tax benefit it you make a donation before December 31st. Donations can be made on-line at: www.abainternational.org/saba/sub/donatesaba/
We thank you for your support, and look forward to another very good year for the field of behavior analysis.