Tennessee ABA

By Lindsey Brady & Komal Noordin

The Tennessee Association for Behavior Analysis (TABA) was established in 1997 and continues to focus on providing quality continuing education opportunities to Behavior Analysts across the state, supporting various state ABA programs, and ensuring the availability of applied behavior analysis services throughout all three regions. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, TABA has continued coordinating online continuing education opportunities both within regional meetings and the annual conference to ensuring members were able to access these benefits safely.

Currently, TABA has approximately 311 members. There is one annual state conference, and three regional meetings hosted each year. The annual conference is typically held in Middle Tennessee as regional meetings are held in each of the three grand regions of the state-West, Middle, and East. The annual conference provides a central forum to discuss all aspects of researching, planning, and delivering applied behavior analysis services that address the needs of behavior analysts across the state, while the regional meetings allow for those needs of local behavior analysts to be discussed. All regional meetings were conducted virtually.

The 24th Annual Conference was held virtually using the BehaviorLive platform on October 29–30. During this conference, approximately 257 Behavior Analysts attended to hear the following qualified invited speakers: Dr. Patrick Friman, who spoke about how all Behavior Analysts serve specific general functions and how we can improve our field, Dr. Ruth Anne Rehfeldt, who discussed using ACT principles to program for compassionate care, and Dr. Amanda Kelly, who discussed how to solve ethical dilemmas that occur when professionals disagree. Hana Jurgens, Dr. Karly Cordova and Dr. Yulema Cruz, who discussed how to provide supervision beyond the task list and ethically prepare our trainees for the “real world.” Additional speakers covered topics such as trauma informed care, using the Contextual Variable Analysis and Planning Tool to improve treatment outcomes, and using virtual behavior skills training to teach discrete trial procedures to public school staff. Although we couldn’t host Behavioral Olympics, poster sessions returned allowing our exceptional trainees to showcase their knowledge.

Our Executive Committee is made up of the following individuals: Komal Noordin as president, Nea Houchins-Juarez as president-elect, Donna Ross as West TN Regional representative, Brianna Duncan as Middle TN Regional representative, Michael Tonos as East TN Regional representative, Ebony Barnes as West TN student officer, Vandyck Adade-Yeboah as Middle TN student officer, and Star Washington as East TN student officer. Our committee chairs include Cady Branch and Michelle Hopton (co-chairs, continuing education), Erin Szarka (publications), Logan York and Elizabeth West (co-chairs, social media), Clinton Smith (professional standards), and Zachary Stevens (membership), Pablo Juarez and James Meindl (Public Policy Committee co-chairs). Lindsey Brady continues as the director of operations. Collectively, this group is dedicated to advancing the presence of TABA across the state by finally offering a hybrid conference option, providing engaging opportunities for regional meetings, attempting to reconnect with members in-person as permitted, and working to identify current and possible new benefits for TABA members in the future. TABA is active on Facebook and Instagram.