Every year, the UW ABA program invites a scholar from another university or part of the country who we believe is doing exciting or thought-provoking work in Applied Behavior Analysis to come visit our program. The scholar meets with faculty, talks with students, and showcases their own scholarly work through a presentation to both students and BCBAs from the broader Puget Sound community.
This year, Michele D. Wallace, Ph.D., BCBA-D will present Roots to Revolution: Exploring the Legacy of Functional Analysis Methodology and Its Exciting Future!
Dr. Michele Wallace earned her doctorate from the University of Florida in 2000 in the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. She is a Full Professor, the Master of Science in Counseling Option in Applied Behavior Analysis Program Coordinator, and the Program Coordinator and Coach for the Success Program in the Early Entrance Program at California State University, Los Angeles.
Roots to Revolution: Exploring the Legacy of Functional Analysis Methodology and Its Exciting Future!
The efficacy of behavior analytic services is dependent on the ability to predict and control the future occurrence of behavior, irrespective of trying to teach, modify, or reduce a particular behavior. To do so, one must identify the environmental variables of which behavior is a function, in the words of B. F. Skinner a “functional analysis” (Skinner, 1953). A methodology to accomplish this goal with respect to interfering behavior not only has strong roots but has evolved over the last 42 years. This presentation will explore this legacy of evolution and will provide a window into not only evidence-based practice in the assessment of interfering behavior but will provide a selection tool to guide practitioners on how to join the revolution to guarantee an exciting future.
