Manitoba ABA

By Jennifer L. Cook

The Manitoba Association for Behaviour Analysis
(MABA) is proud to be in its 19th year as an affiliated chapter of ABAI. Hereafter, we will describe several objectives that we have met. As an ongoing ACE provider since 2013, MABA offered free CEUs to our BACB-certified members at the Annual Conference on September 21, 2023. We hosted an incredible all-female lineup of speakers in a virtual format, welcoming 142 online registrants. Our keynote presenter, Shahala Alai- Rosales, PhD, BCBA-D, CPBA-AP (University of North Texas) presented on the “Contingencies of Joy.” Florence DiGennaro Reed, PhD, BCBA-D, LBA (University of Kansas) discussed training and supporting group home staff. Sarah Richling, PhD, BCBA-D, LBA (Auburn University) reviewed research on performance criteria and the concept of “mastery.” Mandy Rispoli, PhD, BCBA-D, LBA described current research in repetitive and ritualistic behaviour. Jennifer Cook, PhD, BCBA-D introduced research on conjugate schedules as they relate to promoting activity with music reinforcement. As a final presentation, the speakers joined in a panel to discuss the application of research in clinical practice.

We are looking forward to our 20th Annual
Conference, to be held in the fall of 2024, as our first inperson conference since 2019. Additional information can be found at maba.ca/conference as it becomes available. We were also proud to host Raymond Miltenberger, PhD, BCBA-D for a special in-person half-day event on April 4th, 2024 held at the University of Manitoba. Dr. Miltenberger presented to MABA members on his research in the areas of safety skills and sport and fitness, offering an additional unique opportunity for CEUs for certificants, provided by MABA.

For the upcoming year, we will continue to work on our new and ongoing objectives and goals. Our key objectives for 2024 include continued CE opportunities for our members and opportunities for our members to present behaviour analytic work and network in-person at events. At the end of our event with Dr. Miltenberger, MABA provided free appetizers and beverages for networking with the speaker, MABA directors, and with other members. With the recent addition of two ABA professors at the University of Manitoba, and the first in-person conference format since 2019, we will re-introduce the opportunities for poster presentations. We also plan on continuing to explore opportunities to promote behaviour analysis in Manitoba through partnerships with local organizations, universities, and other Canadian ABAI chapters. Finally, we would like to continue to work on increasing our membership through various recruitment initiatives.

Dr. Joseph Pear (1938 – 2022), In Memoriam

As a final note, we would like to acknowledge the passing of Dr. Joseph Pear on December 29th, 2022. Joe was a highly influential researcher and professor at the University of Manitoba for 56 years, inspiring generations of students and behaviour analysts alike. As ABAI members will know, Joe was one-half of the “Martin & Pear duo,” co-authors of the impactful textbook, “Behaviour Modification: What It Is and How To Do It.” Indeed, Joe was collaborating with Garry on the most recent edition of this text, completing it in his final days into late 2022.

Joe Pear was also instrumental in the founding of MABA. We dedicated a MABA newsletter to Joe’s impactful legacy in Manitoba, in which several former students and colleagues provided commentary on their memories of. However, we’d like to give the final words to his nearest and dearest colleague of nearly six decades, Dr. Garry Martin. In Garry’s words, this is what he wrote about Joe in the MABA newsletter:

I am very happy to contribute to the honouring of the life and contributions of Joe Pear for his role in the history of Behavior Analysis in Manitoba and the World. I will describe some of Joe’s early contributions to Behavior Analysis in Manitoba, which may not be familiar to many current MABA members.

In the Fall of 1966, Joe began teaching in the Psychology Department at the U of M, and I began teaching psychology courses at St. Paul’s College (which did its own hiring in those days). Although there were no undergraduate or graduate courses in Behavior Modification or Behavior Analysis in those days, we both taught our students about Operant Conditioning and Respondent Conditioning. Our mutual interest in those topics was brought to our attention by our students, and Joe and I began to communicate.

In the Summer of 1967, four of my undergraduates and I began a behavioural training program for 10 children with autism at the Manitoba Developmental Center (MDC) at Portage La Prairie. To continue the program in the Fall, Joe and I both gave our undergraduate students the option of writing several term papers, or carpooling to MDC in groups of 4, and each group being there for 2 hours each day for 2 weeks to continue the training sessions with the children. Joe and I described data on the effectiveness of the program in our first co-authored paper (Martin, G. L. & Pear, J.J.: 1970. Short term participation by 130 undergraduates as operant conditioners in an ongoing project with autistic children. The Psychological Record, 20, 327–336.)

In the Fall of 1968, a Behavior Modification Department was established at St. Amant, the main residence for persons with developmental disabilities and children with autism in Winnipeg. Joe was hired as a consultant, and he and two of his graduate students, John Beiberdorf and Carl Stephens, began the research program at St. Amant.

In the Fall of 1968, Joe and I jointly taught the first Behavior Modification graduate course at U of M. In 1969, St. Paul’s College became a part of the U of M, and Joe and I were both members of the U of M Psychology Department. In 1971, we established the Graduate Program in Behavior Modification (now the ABA Program).

By the mid-1970s, Joe and I were in communication frequently with two audiences: undergraduates taking courses in Behavior Modification, and practitioners applying Behavior Modification to persons with Developmental Disabilities and children with Autism. However there was no textbook available to serve both audiences. Therefore Joe and I co-authored the First Edition of our book, Behavior Modification: What It Is And How To Do It, which was published in 1978. The 12th Edition will be published. In the coming year. Joe played a big role in helping me write the 12th Edition before he passed away. Various editions have been translated into Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, and Korean, and the book is used as a textbook at Universities in many countries.

In 2001, Joe and I, with Dickie Yu and Steve Holborn, formed the ABA Admissions Area in the Department of Psychology. In 2004, current and former ABA students founded MABA, with Kirsten Wirth and Kerry Walters playing a lead role in founding and directing MABA. Since Joe first came to the U of M in 1966, he played a huge role in Manitoba’s International Impact on Behavior Analysis. I am very thankful for Joe’s Friendship, and for his many distinguished contributions to research, scholarship, and teaching at the U of M.

For a recent exploration of Joe’s life’s work, see also: Crone-Todd, D. E., & Silva, F. J. (2023). Joseph J. Pear (1938–2022): Inventive, Innovative, Inquisitive. The Psychological Record, 73(4), 611–618. doi.org/10.1007/s40732-023-00569-7