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Behavior Analyst Licensing Rules Available!
A letter from Stephanie Peterson, Head of the Behavior Analysis Licensing Board
Dear Michigan BCBA and BCaBA Colleagues,
Greetings! I am writing to give you some information about licensing for behavior analysts in Michigan.
As you are probably well aware, it will soon be necessary for BCBAs and BCaBAs to be licensed in Michigan if they want to practice in Michigan. The licensing rules were promulgated on January 7, 2019.
Michigan Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) anticipates that the online portal through which you will be able to apply for licensure will be available on May 6, 2019. This may change, however. You may want to join LARA’s listserv in order to receive email updates regarding the availability of licensure application materials. To do so, please open your favorite search engine and type in: LARA BPL. Click on the first link that comes up. This is LARA’s landing page. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. You will see a link at the bottom of the page that says “Sign up for email from BPL.” Click on that link and follow the prompts to enter your email address. The last page of this process will ask you what licensing areas you want to get notifications for. Click the box next to behavior analyst and complete the submission. You should then receive email updates when the online portal is live and ready to accept applications.
You may also want to be aware of the Michigan Board of Analysts’ landing page for additional information. On this website, you can find meeting dates, agendas, and minutes of the licensing board meetings, as well as a link to the rules and a link to the list of board members.
You can find the Board’s landing page here.
(https://www.michigan.gov/lara/0,4601,7-154-89334_72600_72603_27529_80658---,00.html)
Finally, one of the required members of the Michigan Board of Behavior Analysts must be a Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst (BCaBA). Currently, this position on the board is open. If you are a BCaBA who would like to serve on the Board, please feel free to submit an application. Alternatively, if you know someone who would like to serve, please encourage him/her to apply. You can apply by opening your favorite search engine and typing in Michigan Governor Whitmer Appointments. The first link that should appear will be Whitmer-Appointments-State of Michigan. Click this link and you will find instructions to apply.
I hope you find this information helpful. Please pay close attention to these listservs and web pages over the next several months, as important information will be forthcoming.
Sincerely,
Stephanie M. Peterson, Ph.D., BCBA-D
Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology at Western Michigan University
Chair, Michigan Board of Behavior Analysts
What is Facilitated Communication?
Facilitated Communication (FC), sometimes also called "Supported Typing," is a set of methods by which selection- pointing- or writing-based communication in one individual is simulated by another person who provides physical, gestural, or other cues for the selections. In most FC, the hand or arm of the individual is held and moved. But, in some forms, the facilitator holds the communication output device or provides non-physical cues. FC is the single most scientifically discredited intervention in developmental disabilities.
Comedy: Interbehaviorists Announce Translation of J.R. Kantor's Major Works into English
Language specialists hired by the Interbehaviorists in ABAI special interest group announced the completion of the long-awaited translation of J.R. Kantor's major works into English.
Due to be released at the upcoming convention of the Association for Behavior Analysis International, the multi-year translation effort was spearheaded by Bryan Midgley of McPherson College and Edward K. Morris of the University of Kansas.
According to Midgley, "Until now, no one really knew what Kantor was talking about. We assumed it was important. Those are some really long words...and sentences. At least we think they're sentences." Midgely then quoted a passage, "This is what we were up against."
In such a vacuous causal universe it may be asserted that 'Whatever is, may not be','Not everything that could happen does happen', 'The contrary of every matter of fact is still possible'. The universalistic claim that the world is a system of necessary connections namely, 'every effect must have a cause' is not condemned by us merely because it is a vain apothegm. Not at all.The gravamen lies in assuming that such an assertion is factually significant.
Morris added, "We didn't know what to expect exactly. We were hoping for a detailed accounting of setting factors and contextualism. Maybe we'd even find something specific and practical. What a surprise. It's actually mostly bratwurst recipes and complaints about the service at a local deli."
Interbehaviorists have hailed the effort, declaring Kantor's clear superiority and precedence in the area of tubular meat products. Linda Hayes of the University of Nevada-Reno stated, "Once again we see that Skinner's approach to sausage is nothing more than him slathering some relish over what Thorndike had grilled up years before."
Dennis Delprato of Eastern Michigan University added, "The unfortunate dualistic and reductionistic foundation of Skinner's work is clearly revealed by Kantor's explication of the mutual and simultaneous interaction of the glutinous and carnate substances. The notion of independent ingredients accepted by the mechanists (e.g., there is meat and there is bread) is replaced in Kantor with the systemic idea of interdependence or mutuality of the sandwich as field object."
"Fools mow where angels fear to spread."
Content created by Noncompliant Productions exclusively for BAAM; Page Updated April 1, 2015
From the story: A GRANDMOTHER who says she "fell in love" with her severely autistic client at a Sunshine Coast disability services home, has been convicted on two counts of indecent dealing with him....She said he used facilitated communication to tell her that he loved her.
Alan Hudson, veteran FC critic in Australia, "identified numerous substantial faults and concluded it did not "work" for the young man."
Read and sign BAAM's Resolution Against Facilitated Communication
The BAAM 2015 convention will be held Thursday and Friday, February 19-20 at the Student Center on the Campus of Eastern Michigan University.
BAAM offers a mix of applied, basic, historical, conceptual, and professionals events, and is open to everyone. We will have BACB CEUs available. Last year's BAAM convention had record attendance, and we expect as many this year. BAAM has secured larger rooms to better accommodate the growth. We hope to see you there.
Western Michigan University Psychology Receives $4 Million for Autism Research and Training
"The efforts funded by the new state money will move forward under the direction of Dr. Stephanie Peterson, chair of the Western Michigan University Department of Psychology, and Dr. Wayne Fuqua, professor of psychology, whose longtime focus has been on the use of behavior analysis for the treatment of autism."
Become a "Virtual Member" of BAAM
Virtual members are not official members of BAAM, but do receive email updates and selected mailings.
Archive of the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB)
View the contents of all back issues from 1958-2012.
What is the Matching Law?
First described in detail in a1961 article by Richard Herrnstein, matching law says that responses are distributed among alternatives in proportion to the relative amounts reward obtained on each alternative. If you get 1/3 of your reward on behavior A, and 2/3 on B, you will devote 1/3 of your effort to A and 2/3 to B.
Archive of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA)
View the contents of all back issues from 1968-2012.
Walled Lake Schools to Pay in Dismissed Criminal Facilitated Communication Case
Parents accused of rape and abuse via the discredited method, Facilitated Communication, receive a $1.1 million settlement from Walled Lake Schools.
BAAM Statement of Purpose
The Behavior Analysis Association of Michigan* has been organized to support and promote scientific research on the basic principles of behavior and the extension of those principles to create demonstrably effective and humane outcome-based therapies with the primary goal of establishing and enhancing functional independent living skills.
*BAAM is a state affiliate of the Association for Behavior Analysis International and is sponsored by the Eastern Michigan University Psychology Department.
Research suggests that autism prevalence may be unchanged over last 20 years.
"several studies have found that there is increased surveillance for autism, a broadening of the diagnostic criteria, and an increased willingness to seek out and accept the diagnosis by parents and educators. Further, when you control for these variables, the adjusted autism prevalence is stable over time."
Comedy: MIT Psycholinguist Noam Chomsky Reveals Truth about 1959 Review of Skinner's Verbal Behavior
Massachusetts Institute of Technology psycholinguist Noam Chomsky revealed that his famous negative review of B.F. Skinner's Verbal Behavior was a "big joke gone wrong."
Chomsky, who was attending a conference for people whose work now mostly appears on the Huffington Post, explained that his 1959 review of Verbal Behavior in the journal Language was a satirical piece meant for the amusement of his friends.
"It just sort of got away from me. I had no idea anyone would take it seriously," said the contrite Chomsky.
"I just cobbled together odds and ends that had nothing to do with Skinner. Who knew that my colleagues were so ill-informed that they didn't see that I was deliberately missing the point? Apparently, it never occurred to them to actually read Skinner."
"I had pages about Skinner and drive reduction. Really! Drive was Clark Hull's thing. Language as a stimulus-response chain? That's Watson's theory. It was long-gone by the time Skinner was writing."
"I thought the stilted, over-the-top, officious style would be a tip-off. Now everyone in the field writes that way. That's not the kind of influence I hoped to have. But then I got caught up in it. I liked the attention."
Chomsky confessed regret for holding back progress in language studies. "Decades have been lost," he said.
"No one who needs to get something done reads Syntactic Structures or Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. I mean, we talk a good game. But, there's nothing useful in those works. If you have Fred Skinner's book, you can actually teach people to talk."
The highlight of the conference was Chomsky's Keynote address: "Cognitive Psycholinguistics: On the Verge of Amounting to Something."
(See related story: Steven Pinker blames his book The Language Instinct on a bad reaction to shellfish.)
"Fools mow where angels fear to spread."
Content created by Noncompliant Productions exclusively for BAAM; Page Updated April 1, 2015
Comedy: Professor James Todd of Eastern Michigan University Creates Behaviorist Zombie Army
By combining shaping techniques pioneered by psychologist B.F. Skinner with Karen Pryor's "Clicker Training," Professor James T. Todd of Eastern Michigan University has conditioned hundreds of psychology students to serve as his behaviorist zombie army.
"This has been a dream of mine for years," said Todd. "I've always wanted a zombie army. Now I have one."
Todd says he was inspired by the AMC television program, "The Walking Dead."
"I had been in administration too long. I had lost touch with the field. It was like I had become one of the 'Walking Dead'...or any character from Season Three. It was important to me to know if I still had the basic conditioning skills to turn ordinary students into mindless behavioral automata."
Todd's behaviorist zombie army was congregated in the hallways of the Eastern Michigan University Science Complex, patiently awaiting his bidding.
"Mostly they've been getting my coffee and making copies. Some are working on the BCBA." Todd pointed to several of the undead staring at a computer screen. "I've got them doing the BDS modules."
Todd's colleagues have raised concerns. "We are worried about having lots of behaviorists around," said a senior faculty member who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "This threatens to bring a disturbing specificity to the department. Someone might start expecting results."
Todd confessed to some problems. "We're making them good behaviorists so they'll all be exactly alike. That's handy for world domination, but it's a logistical nightmare when it's time for a bathroom break."
"Fools mow where angels fear to spread"
Content created by Noncompliant Productions exclusively for BAAM; Page Updated April 1, 2015
The Christie Administration today announced the selection of Mark Mautone...as the 2014-2015 State Teacher of the Year....An educator for 19 years, he received his bachelor's degree from Kean University and his master's in Applied Behavior Analysis from Caldwell University.
Mautone is a signatory to BAAM's Resolution on Facilitated Communication.
New BAAM Website
After 10 years, BAAM is doing a phased retirement of its former website design. We retained the 1990s-style site, with its very small file sizes, as long as possible to accommodate those struggling with slow Internet connections and older web browsers.
However, new web standards and technologies require that we update. We hope the new design is pleasing and useful. During the transition, you might encounter some older-style pages that have been retained to facilitate the transition between old and new technologies. If your favorite pages are missing from the new site, use a search engine to look for them. IF possible, we will leave the old pages active until we have transfered them.
Michael McSheehan, The Psychic Facilitator
...for the next four months Adri and I; my brother, Jamie; and Michael McSheehan, an Adriana Foundation consultant and facilitator, met in my office for spiritual discussions.
Because it made communication so much easier, Adri loved telepathic FC. She would type the first letter of a word, and if Michael understood the word telepathically, he'd say it aloud. Adri would then hit the space key to indicate that he was correct. Sometimes, oddly enough, as in the case of the word synergy, Michael understood the word telepathically but didn't know the meaning of it so we had to stop our conversation and define it for him. When he was unable to get a word telepathically, or if he got the word wrong, Adri would simply type out the entire word. As a result our conversations became a fascinating mix of traditional and telepathic FC. Participating in these discussions was extraordinary and enlightening for all of us, not only because of the subject matter but also because it's an amazing experience to be part of a telepathic conversation. Michael and Adri modeled for us the incredible potential of human communication. (Rocha & Jorde, 1995, pp. 228-229)
Behavior Analysis Association of Michigan, Department of Psychology, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI 48197