ABA Inside Track

Happy 10th Anniversary, ABA Inside Track! Yes, after 10 years of laughs, research discussion, and podcasting, we're finally reaching the Tin-phase of the show (because we're so durable). Though, beyond our long-winded trips down memory lane, we're still here doing what we do best: Creating amazing discussions about topics and research that matter to behavior analysts. Plus a Book Club!
We kick the month off with some special guests including Dr. Kathleen Feeley who brings us up to speed on supporting children with Down syndrome using ABA methodology, and friend of the show, Dr. Casey Clay, who shows us how to extend preference assessment technology to the social interaction realms. Finally, we wrap up our regular episodes with a dip into OBM by reviewing the research on using public posting to improve employee performance. Then, our Spring Book Club sprouts with a very timely discussion of "The Anxious Generation" by Johnathan Haidt with Book Club Guy, Alan Haberman. Put down your social media feeds and pick up your mp3 players! It's learning time. In lieu of flowers and congratulations cards, you may think kind thoughts about us as you download all these episodes.
Articles for March 2026
Down Syndrome and ABA w/ Dr. Kathleen Feeley (DUAL DIAGNOSIS)
Feeley, K.M. & Jones, E.A. (2006). Addressing challenging behaviour in children with Down syndrome: The use of applied behaviour analysis for assessment and intervention. Down Syndrome Research and Practice, 11, 64-77. doi: 10.3104/perspectives.316
Feeley, K. & Jones, E. (2008). Strategies to address challenging behaviour in young children with Down syndrome. Down Syndrome Research and Practice, 12, 153-163. doi: 10.3104/case-studies.2008
Feeley, K.M., Jones, E.A., Blackburn, C., & Bauer, S. (2011). Advancing imitation and requesting skills in toddlers with Down syndrome. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 32, 2415-2430. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2011.07.018
 
Social Preference Assessments w/ Dr. Casey Clay
Clay, C.J., Samaha, A.L., Bloom, S.E., Bogoev, B.K., & Boyle, M.A. (2013). Assessing preference for social interactions. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 34, 362-371. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2012.07.028
Morris, S.L. & Vollmer, T.R. (2020). A comparison of methods for assessing preference for social interactions. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 53, 918-937. doi: 10.1002/jaba.692

Clay, C.J., Samaha, A.L., & Kogoev, B.K. (2018). Assessing preference for and reinforcing efficacy of components of social interactions in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Learning and Motivation, 62, 4-14. doi: 10.1016/j.lmot.2017.03.008
 
Public Posting
Nordstrom, R., Lorenzi, P., & Hall, R.V. (1991). A review of public posting of performance feedback in work settings. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 11, 101-124. doi: 10.1300/J075v11n02_07
Miller, B.G., Livingston, C.P., Zerger, H.M., Valbuena, D.A., & Miltenberger, R.G. (2023). Evaluating public posting, goal setting, and rewards to increase physical activity in children. Behavioral Interventions, 38, 105-117. doi: 10.1002/bin.1902
Ayvazo, S. & Naveh, M.E. (2024). Self-monitoring and public posting improve competitive youth cyclists' training performance. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 57, 394-407. doi: 10.1002/jaba.1058
Perrin, C.J., Frederick, A., & Klick, S. (2016). Effects of public posting and goal setting on team performance in a residential setting. Behavioral Interventions, 31, 300-308. doi: 10.1002/bin.1451
 
The Anxious Generation Book Club (PATRONS)
Haidt, J., (2024). The anxious generation: How the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness. Penguin Press.

It's been over 200 episodes since we've last talked about Rob's favorite topic/curriculum/body of research, the Preschool Life Skills. So, to wrap up his birthday month of episodes, we're bringing it back!
First, a review of PLS and how it can fit into your classroom environment. Then two recent extensions of the PLS into trauma-based treatment and parent skill development. Hopefully, you'll be as excited as Rob is by the end of this episode. And, if not, could you just fake it for a while? It is his birthday.
This episode is available for 1.0 LEARNING CEU.
Articles discussed this episode:
Falligant, J.M. & Pence, S.T. (2017). Preschool Life Skills using the Response to Intervention model with preschoolers with developmental disabilities. Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice, 3, 217-236. doi: 10.1037/bar0000056
Rees, R.E., Seel, C.J., Huxtable, B.G., & Austin, J.L. (2024). Using the Preschool Life Skills program to support skill development for children with trauma histories. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 17, 693-708. doi: 10.1007/s40617-023-00892-z
Lee, H., Gunning, C., Leow, J., & Holloway, J. (2024). An evaluation of delivery of the parent Preschool Life Skills program via telehealth. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 57, 893-909. doi: 10.1002/jaba.2914
If you're interested in ordering CEs for listening to this episode, click here to go to the store page. You'll need to enter your name, BCBA #, the two episode secret code words, and answers to the knowledge check questions to complete the purchase. Email us at [email protected] for further assistance.

We had so much fun talking with Danielle Yang about the potential of tabletop role-playing games as a component of behavior analytic skill acquisition treatment from a research perspective. But in case that wasn't enough to give you a sense of what such an ABA session could look like, Danielle returns to run Rob and school psychologist/BCBA, Matt Carter, through a demo session of RPGs as a framework for teaching mindfulness and denial tolerance. Will Matt and Rob learn to be more flexible? Or will the impassable mushroom village be their doom?
Interested in learning more about this topic? Danielle offers a deeper-dive course into the use of RPGs in treatment and skill planning. You can also join her Discord to chat with other RPG/ABA practitioners.

A kobold approaches! He's looking for someone to help him with his social skills to gain greater friends at the taverns. Do you roll for behavior analysis clinical skills? Or attack him with your +2 broadsword?
While we've definitely discussed role-playing activities in training contexts, recent years have seen a huge increase in interest in gamification in learning a variety of skills. One area of research is in the use of tabletop role-playing games in therapeutic and clinical settings. But is there any research to back up the hype? This week we're joined by active RPG player clinical user, Danielle Yang, to dive into the research base as we work to answer the question: could the use of RPGs in treatment be considered behavior analytic?
Interested in learning more about this topic? Danielle offers a deeper-dive course into the use of RPGs in treatment and skill planning. You can also join her Discord to chat with other RPG/ABA practitioners. And keep your eye out for a bonus episode this month where we'll be demoing just HOW a tabletop RPG could be used in a clinical setting.
This episode is available for 1.0 LEARNING CEU.
Articles discussed this episode:
Arenas, D.L., Viduani, A., & Araujo, R.B. (2022). Therapeutic use of role-playing game (RPG) in mental health: A scoping review. Simulation and Gaming, 53, 285-311. doi: 10.1177/10468781211073720
Yuliawati, L., Wardhani, P.A.P., & Ng, J.H. (2024). A scoping review of tabletop role-playing game (TTPRG) as a psychological intervention: Potential benefits and future directions. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 17, 2885-2903. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S466664
Helbig, K.A., (2019). Evaluation of a role-playing game to improve social skills for individuals with ASD. [Doctoral dissertation, University of Southern Mississippi]. Aquila Digital Community.  https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/1673
If you're interested in ordering CEs for listening to this episode, click here to go to the store page. You'll need to enter your name, BCBA #, the two episode secret code words, and answers to the knowledge check questions to complete the purchase. Email us at [email protected] for further assistance.

UNLOCKED from our Patreon page, it's the "The Science of Consequences" Book Club! Interested in more Book Clubs? Want to vote on what we read next? Feeling FOMO at getting this a full year late? Wish your 2.5 CEs for listening to the episode were FREE??? Join us on Patreon to get all of our episodes a week early, access to these bonus episodes, plus other goodies.
As a follow-up from our episode on storytelling, we our Winter 2024 Book Club explored Dr. Susan Schneider's 2012 opus, The Science of Consequences, as an example of taking the hugely important concept of learning through consequences and making it understandable to the wider public. But hey, while she was at it, why not explain how consequences impact evolution, or gene expression, or social improvement strategies. And add multiple examples of how consequences work in labs and the natural environment across a wide range of human and non-human species. And make it fun to read!
But before our crack Book Club squad dives into the nitty gritty of the content, we had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Schneider herself to ask how she managed to take millions of years of the effects of consequences and pack it into a 300+ page book as well as how her study of consequences informs her current work as a climate change policy advocate.
This episode is available for 2.5 LEARNING CEUs.
Content discussed in this episode:
Schneider, S.M. (2012). The science of consequences: How they affect genes, change the brain, and impact our world. Prometheus Books.
If you're interested in ordering CEs for listening to this episode, click here to go to the store page. You'll need to enter your name, BCBA #, and the two episode secret code words to complete the purchase. Email us at [email protected] for further assistance. Want these CEs for FREE? Just subscribe to our Patreon at the $10+ levels and go to the original post for a discount code.