Israel ABA

By Mey-Elle Naveh

The Israeli Association for Behavior Analysis (IABA) wishes to open its report for 2023 with the events of October 7th, 2023: the horrific massacre carried out by the Hamas terror organization against the citizens of the State of Israel. Children, babies, women, men, and soldiers were murdered, massacred, burned, raped, and kidnapped from what is supposed to be the safest place for all people—their own home in their own country, only because they are Jews.

We pray that all the hostages held by the Hamas terror organization will return soon to their homes and their families all safe and sound. We also pray for the health and well-being of the IDF soldiers and all security forces and hope for better days for Israel and the entire world.

During 2023, IABA actively promoted the field of behavior analysis and its practitioners. We wish to bring some of the organization’s activities for 2023:

Professional Development
Two lectures by Prof. Esther Dromi about autism in the 21st century:

Myths about autism: What can be learned from scientific studies.
Developmental model for clinical evaluation of children with autism.

Both lectures were free of charge to IABA members. Dr. Avner Fraidlin gave a lecture on the topic of training teachers in video modeling and providing behavioral feedback.

Dr. Shiri Ayvazo gave a lecture called When N is Greater Than 1: Functional Assessment in Classroom Ecology. Dr. Elian Aljadeff lectured about tools from the field of OBM for effective leadership of behavior analysts. We have published a 100-page ethics folder on our behalf, which includes articles, a Hebrew-translated code of ethics an informed consent form, an example of a contractual agreement, and more.

We published an informational article in the Israel Hayom newspaper about behavior analysis as a field proven to be beneficial and focus on improving lives and doing good while maintaining the principles of compassion, respect, integrity, and professional competence, as well as another article about the day-to-day life of a behavior analyst working with a population on the autistic spectrum. Thank you to Mrs. Rachel Tzur Hembra for her learning, sharing, and incredible contribution to the article.

Social promotion of a united professional community:

We celebrated the International Anniversary of Behavioral Analysts with a celebratory presentation.
We participated in the first international conference at Kinneret Academic College.
Promotion of regulation of the profession:
We are in regular and continuous communication with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education, professional organizations, and Parliament members to promote the regulation of the profession.
An open meeting was held for all community members on 2.7.2023 about the regulation and the draft of the Ministry of Health. We had an open dialogue and formulated an agreed draft for the definition of a behavior analyst in the Ministry of Health.
We maintain contact between behavior analysts and professional organizations or individuals looking for behavior analysts.

Within the association framework, we have an ethics and law committee that provides an ongoing response to ethical dilemmas of behavior analysts.

We closed 2023 and opened 2024 with a professional conference on self-management from the perspective of science and practice.

IABA has existed since 2002 and is a professional, veteran, stable, and representative home for all behavioral analysts in Israel.