Applied Behavioral Analysis

Brief Description of ABA

The ABA admissions area was formed in the spring of 2001. ABA involves the systematic application of learning principles and techniques to assess and improve individuals. covert and overt behaviors in order to help them function more fully in society. Training in the experimental analysis of behaviour (basic research on behaviour) is also provided. The Department of Psychology offers research and applied training at both the MA and Ph.D. levels in ABA. Students have the opportunity to receive supervised training in the practice of ABA with varied clientele, and especially with persons with developmental disabilities and/or autism.

Description of The ABA

The ABA admissions area currently has 10 Admission Entitlements (AEs). The faculty members include: Drs. Holborn (1 AE), Martin (2 AEs), Pear (1 AE), Whiteley (2 AEs), and Yu (4 AEs). In addition, Dr. Angela Cornick is an adjunct professor in the ABA area.

Areas of Interest:Applied and experimental analyses of behavior in humans; behavioral assessment; single-case experimental research design; behavioral medicine; anxiety disorders.

Areas of Interest:Behavioral assessment and training strategies in developmental disabilities, including autism; Behavior analysis and sport psychology.

Areas of Interest:Basic and applied behavior analysis; principles of learning; systems of psychology; quantitative analyses of behavior.

Areas of Interest:Behavioral assessment and training strategies to improve quality of life of persons with developmental disabilities, including autism.

Areas of Interest:Behavioral assessment and training strategies with persons with developmental disabilities, including autism.

ABA Graduate Courses and Practica

Seminar in Behavior Modification (17:824) This seminar deals with a variety of specific topics in behavior modification.

Practical Applications of Behavior Modification (17:825) This course deals with the design, implementation, and evaluation of program packages, based on behavior modification, to different population and problem areas.

Individual Organism Research Methodology (17:826) An extensive coverage of the methods by which behavior can be studied in individual organisms, including the rationale for the use of such methods as opposed to methods involving the averaging of group data.

Seminar in Basic Operant Research (17:827) This seminar deals with selected topics in basic operant research.

Supervised Field Study in Behavior Modification I (17:828) Supervised training will take place in a service facility typically located off the University campus. Students will work closely with a supervisor in assessing a problem, designing and executing an intervention program and conducting follow-up. The minimum requirement for a 13-week term is 150 hours, at least 50 hours of which is direct ABA treatment of clients.

Supervised Field Study in Behavior Modification II (17:829) Supervised training will take place in a service facility typically located off the University campus. Students will work closely with a supervisor in assessing a problem, designing and executing an appropriate intervention program and conducting a follow-up. The minimum requirement for a 13-week term is 150 hours, at least 50 hours of which is direct ABA treatment of clients.

Behavioral Assessment (17:830) This course teaches students how to conduct behavioral assessment as a necessary feature of the three interrelated processes of problem identification, program design, and outcome evaluation in the application of behavior modification techniques.

Cognitive Behavior Modification (17:834) An overview of the empirical and theoretical status of cognitive events and their role in behavior change will be undertaken. The techniques of cognitive behavior modification as applied to various problem behaviors will be surveyed and evaluated.

Behavior Therapy (17:840) The theory and practice of utilizing learning principles in behavior change will be explained and exemplified. Goals of the class are for students to recognize that behavior therapy is dynamic and to learn the mechanics of including behavior therapy in work with patients.

 

Strengths of the ABA Admissions Area

1. Numerous publications, conference presentations, and major grants
The ABA faculty are well published and have received numerous grants. All ABA students are encouraged to co-author conference presentations and publications with ABA faculty.
2. Strategic alliances with government and non-government organizations
   1. The St. Amant Centre. The St. Amant Centre Inc. is one of the largest disability service organizations in the Province of Manitoba. The Centre is comprised of a full spectrum of service options, including a residential treatment centre, a school, vocational program, community residences, integrated preschool, and an extensive variety of community supports such as respite care, outreach, clinical consultants, family support programs, and staff education and training services. In 1997, the Centre established a quality of life research program under the direction of Dr. Dickie Yu. Dr. Yu and other professional staff at the St. Amant Centre have been very supportive of research conducted by psychology students. Over the years, all ABA faculty have conducted research at the St. Amant Centre. In addition to its excellent support of research, the St. Amant Centre has been very supportive of ABA graduate students receiving supervised practica applying behavioral techniques with developmentally disabled persons. Practica have been co-supervised by Dr. Martin and Dr. Angela Cornick, Head of Psychology, St. Amant Centre.
   2. Manitoba ABA Program for Children with Autism (MABACA). MABACA is a government-funded program that was initiated in 1999, and that currently funds intensive ABA treatment for a total of 46 children with autism from the ages of 2 to 6. This program is directed from the St. Amant Centre, and is supervised by Dr. Angela Cornick, Director of ABA Program and Psychology Services. In the program, each child receives 35 hours of therapy per week, including 27 hours with a tutor, three hours with a senior tutor, and five hours with a parent, all supervised by a clinical consultant. Every second week, the tutors, senior tutor, clinical consultant, and parents of a child participate in a three-hour clinic. Our ABA graduate students have also received supervised practica under the co-supervision of Dr. Martin and Dr. Cornick. Some of our ABA graduate students have also been hired as clinical consultants in this program.
   3. The program at Riverview Health Centre. Opportunities exist for research in behavioral medicine with geriatric populations at Riverview Health Centre, as supervised by Dr. Holborn. Examples include behavioral assessment and treatment of behavioral problems in elderly individuals. A recent emphasis has been on improved screening of, and treatment for, depression in elderly, institutionalized individuals.
3. Strategic alliances within the University
   1. Research collaboration. Several collaborative research projects are ongoing between Dr. Yu and Faculty members from other disciplines within the University. These faculty include Dr. Loretta Secco (Faculty of Nursing), Dr. Marni Brownell (Manitoba Centre for Health Policy & Faculty of Medicine), and Dr. Ab Chudley and Dr. Brian Hennen (Faculty of Medicine). Research areas include child and family resiliency, health care utilization patterns, epidemiology, and genetics and dysmorphology. Dr. Yu and Dr. Chudley (co-team leaders) established the Manitoba Autism Research Team in 2001 to develop, conduct, and promote interdisciplinary research in autism.

      The ABA area also collaborates with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering through Dr. Pear’s work with Dr. Witold Kinsner. Current work consists of demonstrating the self-affine structure of fish-swimming trajectories while engaging in aggressive displays and relating this behavior to the self-affine structure of network traffic.

   2. Developmental health research group. Drs. Yu and Garry Martin are members of the Developmental Health Research group, approved by the RPP Steering Committee, and chaired by Dr. Rosemary Mills, Faculty of Human Ecology. The group is comprised of scientists from various disciplines (developmental and clinical psychology, education, nutrition, pediatrics, nursing, and family sciences) and aims to develop collaborative research in the field of child health.
      
   3. The Continuing Education Division. In 2003, the Continuing Education Division developed an undergraduate certificate in ABA. The certificate requires students to complete two undergraduate behavior modification courses (17:244 and 17:245), and to complete two supervised practica in ABA. The practica take place in service facilities, such as the St. Amant Centre, that provide treatment for persons with developmental disabilities, children with autism, or some other population for whom ABA is the treatment of choice. ABA faculty (with Dr. Cornick from St. Amant) were instrumental in the design of the supervised practica, and serve as ongoing consultants to the program. Our ABA graduate program supplies graduate student instructors for the supervised practica.
4. Strategic alliances with faculty from other universities.
   1. Autism Spectrum Disorders–Canadian-American Research Consortium (ASD-CARC). ASD-CARC was established with the support of a CIHR-IHRT grant, led by Dr. Jeanette Holden of Queen's University. The consortium comprises over 50 researchers, working in regional research teams that have been established in BC, AB, MB (see Manitoba Autism Research Team described above), ON, PEI, NS, and NFLD in Canada, and in CA, KS, NY, and MA in the United States. Dr. Yu serves on the Executive Committee of ASD-CARC. ASD-CARC has received a number of CIHR research grants to support multi-site, collaborative research.
   2. Transdisciplinary inter-institute training to enhance research capacity. In addition to research, ASD-CARC is developing a transdisciplinary inter-institute training program to enhance research training of graduate students specializing in autism. Approximately 70% of a $1.4 million CIHR training grant will be used to support graduate students to enhance their research skills in ASD. Graduate students across Canada will be able to apply and compete for research stipends. Dr. Yu is working with Dr. Chudley from the University of Manitoba and faculty members from Brock, Queen's, and York Universities to develop training objectives and measurable outcomes for both MA and PhD students.
5. International Certification of the ABA Graduate Program
There is increasing demand, in Canada and the U.S., for graduates of ABA training programs in a variety of areas, in particular in the areas of autism and mental retardation. As a consequence, many psychology departments at universities in the USA provide training at the MA and Ph.D. levels in ABA. To ensure that such programs meet high standards, the Behavior Analyst Certification Board, with support of the International Association of Applied Behavior Analysis, developed a procedure for certifying graduate training programs in ABA. Currently, our program at the U of M is the only such graduate training program that has received certification in Canada. Not only does this offer testimony to the quality of our ABA graduate training program, it has led to considerable positive advertising for our department. For example, in a feature article in the National Post on Tuesday, March 30th, 2004, titled “The Battle for Autism Treatment”, ABA was recognized as the treatment of choice, and the University of Manitoba was the only Canadian university cited in the article, the citation occurring because of our ABA graduate training program.
6. National and International Recognition and Awards
ABA faculty have brought national and international recognition to the University of Manitoba. In the past few years, awards and recognition to ABA faculty have included: (a) listing in the top 40 most prolific researchers in the experimental analysis of human behavior from 1980 to 1999 (Experimental Analysis of Human Behavior Bulletin, 2002); (b) listing of the University of Manitoba as 18th in the top 50 universities in the world according to number of publications in behavioral journals from 1990 to 1996 (Behavior Therapist, 1998); (c) Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Technology at the 13th International Conference on Teaching and Learning; (d) the Fred S. Keller Behavioral Education Award for Distinguished Contributions to Education by Division 25 of the American Psychological Association; (e) Distinguished Service Awards from the Brazilian Association of Psychotherapy and Behavioral Medicine (2001) and the Canadian Psychological Association (2002); and (f) induction into The Royal Society of Canada (2001).
7. Financial Support for ABA Graduate Students
While our financial support for ABA graduate students is not what we would like it to be, most of our graduate students receive some form of financial support from one of three sources: grants to ABA faculty, conduct of paid ABA practica at the St. Amant Centre, payment for instructors of the ABA undergraduate certificate program. Our students have also been supported by grader/marker, teaching assistant, and lecturer positions within the Department of Psychology, and awards from SSHRC, NSERC, CIHR, and U of M fellowships