Oklahoma ABA

By Sara Morris

It has been an eventful year for the Oklahoma Association for Behavior Analysis (OKABA). Our goals of this
past year have been to begin to grow and engage our membership and become more active as a chapter, and we
did just that.

Up until 2024, instead of OKABA hosting an annual state applied behavior analysis (ABA) conference, the
University of Oklahoma has hosted a conference with OKABA as a partner.

At this conference in November 2023, we announced the results of our 2023–2024 officer elections: Sara Morris, President; Dayna Parker, President-Elect; Kylee Corken, Treasurer; Tiffanie Moore, Member at Large; Sydney LaFleur, Secretary; and Leslie Taylor-Wilson, Student Representative.

At this same conference, we had our first ever in-person member meeting, at which we discussed what we wanted to accomplish as a chapter for the coming year. Our membership voiced the desire to increase support for ABA providers’ relationships with payors in our state, become more involved in public policy, launch our own public conference, and set up a mentorship program for newer BCBAs. We also had a small t-shirt sale to raise funds for our chapter.

After the conference, we formed committees, to include a publications committee (chaired by Dr. Nicolle Carr) which disseminates our quarterly newsletter, a
program committee (also chaired by Dr. Carr) which plans for continuing education events and conferences, a membership committee, and committees for social events and community involvement (chaired by Bonny Reibert and Rowlena Hartman, respectively).

In addition, we formed a public policy committee, chaired by Mallory Fletcher, which began participating in an initiative to ban the use of corporal punishment on special education students in Oklahoma public schools. This committee has also outlined public policy initiatives identified by Oklahoma ABA providers, which will be brought to our state representatives. One of these initiatives is to push for billing opportunities to expand client access to care in our state.

Besides forming committees, OKABA has gradually become more active as a chapter in a variety of ways. We started a private Facebook group to foster community amongst our members. We connected with the officers of another more experienced chapter (Colorado Association for Behavior Analysis) to learn new ways we can grow. We established a code of conduct. We hosted our first social events (one in the Tulsa area, and the other in the Oklahoma City area). We became an ACE provider and started providing monthly online continuing education events. Finally, perhaps OKABA’s greatest milestone of this past year has been taking over the exciting task of hosting the annual ABA conference.

We are so looking forward to this event next month. It has been a busy year, but OKABA is only getting started. We are thrilled to see what the future holds as we continue to build out support and community for ABA providers in our beautiful state.