Chinese ABA

By Cheung Miao Miao

In the previous year, the China Association for Behavior Analysis (CABA) has focused on promoting the science of behavior analysis in Mainland China by (a) providing online Applied Behavior Analysis Professional training course sequence for local therapists, (b) setting up the Behavior Analysis Practitioner Certification Committee, (c) published the Behavior analyst professional skill requirement guideline and Specification for applied behavior analysis services for children, and (d) organizing the eighth annual conference.

The year 2021 was for CABA. On March 4, the Behavior Analysis Practitioner Certification Committee was set up to carry out the preparatory work for the professional skills certification of behavior analysis practitioners in China. On March 4, May 13, July 20, and September 14, 2021, 4 professional skills certification meetings for behavior analysis practitioners were held respectively. Chairman of the Rehabilitation Association Autism Rehabilitation Professional Committee, Applied Behavior Analysis Representatives of the professional committee, representatives of the China Association of Mental Disability and Relatives and Friends, the Office of the National Autism Rehabilitation Research Center and relevant personnel and experts from Huaxia Publishing House attended the meeting. Cao Yuejin, executive director, and secretary general of the Rehabilitation Association presided over the meeting. After repeated discussions, the participants reached a lot of consensuses. The progress of the relevant work is as follows: (1) Determining the name of the professional skills certification work progress of behavior analysis practitioners. To meet the requirements of national standards, the term “behavior analysis practitioners” will be uniformly used. (2) Established the “Behavior Analysis Professional Skills Certification Committee”, with Jia Meixiang, the chairman of the Autism Professional Committee of the Rehabilitation Association, as the chairman of the committee, and Cheung Miaomiao, the deputy director and secretary general of the Behavior Analysis Professional Committee, as the secretary general of the committee. (3) Determine the work direction of the committee: prepare for the professional skills certification of behavior analysis practitioners. (4) Determine the principles of work development: The establishment of the Professional Skills Certification Committee for Behavior Analysis Practitioners and the development of future work will adhere to the principles of openness, fairness, impartiality and non-profit, and emphasize the principles of professionalism and ethics. (5) Determine the framework and specific functions of the professional skills certification committee for behavior analysis practitioners: the important work at the moment can be set up as transactional work departments (such as finance, network) and educational work departments (including training, research, and ethics that have already started), and then gradually improve and enrich the organizational system and functions according to specific work needs. (6) Establish a “Promotion Committee for the Professional Skills Certification of Behavior Analysis Practitioners” to jointly carry out the promotion of the professional skills of behavior analysis practitioners in China. (7) Build a professional skills certification system service platform for behavior analysis practitioners.

On the 19 March, 2022, we held our seventh annual conference online. This year‘s conference with support from the China Association of Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons, Peking University Sixth Hospital. We have Mr. CAO YueJin (Secretary of China Association of Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons) attend our opening ceremony.

Dr. Guo Yanqing from the Peking University of Sixth Hospital gave a presentation on radical behaviorism: keeping evils in silence, promoting the goods. Dr. Zhang Dorothy Xuan from Chicago School presented ABA and its future direction for application. Dr. Lin Fanyu gave her presentation, “Finding Mr./Mrs. Right: Choice Making in ABA.” Dr. Li Xue from the Peking University of Sixth Hospital presented Future directions for social skills interventions. Ms. Dianna Yip from P.L.A.I. Behavior consulting (Hong Kong) presented Beyond early intervention: Using ABA to improve management and Training/ Supervision in ABA intervention organizations. Dr. Wang Chongying from Nankai University presented Naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions and their evidence-based studies for autism spectrum disorders. Dr. Zhu Jing from Shanghai Beyond autism school presented When stereotypes meet TEACCH. Dr. Hu Lei from Qingdao Mengxiang Center for rehabilitation and special education gave his presentation on promote generative learning using verbal behavior approach. Ms. Zhen Tiantian from ALSOLIFE presented Exploring the important data. Ms. Huang Jingjing from Beijing modern wisdom inclusive kindergarten presented the application of behavior analysis in preschool inclusive education setting. Ms. Cheung Miaomiao from Star Sight child education and research center gave an in-depth presentation on the two guidelines published this year, the behavior analyst professional skill requirement guideline and specification for applied behavior analysis services for children.

In 2022, we will continue working actively towards the goal to provide high-quality and professional services to the Chinese public.

Notes
CABA’s three training series are: Professional-Elite Training series (PETs), Professional-General Training series (PGTs), and Public Awareness Training series (PATs). Our PETs training focused on training ABA specialist for the special education field in mainland China, for this training, we’ve invited Chinese speaking BCBA-Ds and BCBAs to provide systematic training programs for local therapists who at least hold a bachelor’s degree and have been working in an a educational setting for more than three years. PGTs programs aimed to invited qualified speakers to provide year-long training programs to both local therapists and parents. PATs training, provided by trained therapists, focused on the public awareness of how powerful ABA is, and stress the fact that the principles of ABA are not only evidence-based training programs for ASDs but also can be used in school settings as well as any settings that included human behavior.