Minnesota Northland ABA

By Odessa Luna and Eric Larsson

Hello from the Minnesota Northland Association for Behavior Analysis (MNABA)! We welcomed one new face to the executive board, Michael Laverdiere (President-Elect). We said “see you later, never goodbye” to the past president, Dr. Angelica Aguirre. MNABA resumed intensive advocacy for a law that would license BCBAs and BCaBAs, after a hiatus due to the pandemic. The original bill was introduced in 2008 and was absorbed into the effective advocacy for an insurance mandate and dedicated Medicaid coverage that culminated in two laws passed in 2013. Then, active work on a specific license resumed in 2015. Now with the support of the MNABA, BACB, the Minnesota Board of Psychology, the Autism Treatment Association of Minnesota, and many others, it appears that our ongoing work may have set the stage for passage during this year.

Below are a few highlights of 2023:

Under the direction of our legislative chair, Dr. Eric Larsson, BCBA-D, LP, we continued our efforts in advocating for BCBA and BCaBA licensure
Continued our efforts to streamline communication efforts between members, our website, and social media platforms.
We hosted our annual conference on September 28 and September 29, 2023!
Location: Bloomington, MN
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Tyra Sellers
Number of attendees: 310 CEUs provided: 22 Three-hour workshops: 4 Breakout sessions: 6 One Panel Event: School-Based ABA Hybrid Data Blitz Events: 10 poster presentations

Below are our goals for 2024:

Continue to make legislative efforts to pass the MN BCBA licensing bill
Carry out our 2022–2027 strategic plan
Refine and update our website
Identify opportunities for our membership to gain CEs outside of our annual conference
Recruit and vote in several new members for the 2024–2025 Board
Host our annual conference

We look forward to all that 2024–2025 has to offer MNABA and its members, including our conference scheduled for September 26–27. Please check www.mnaba. org often for details on this event and everything else we have going on—we would love to see you in Minnesota.