Behavior Analysis Association of Mississippi – 2025 Annual Report

By Stephanie Mattson

Mission and History

The Behavior Analysis Association of Mississippi (BAAMS) is a non-profit corporation under the laws of the State of Mississippi, promoting ABAI’s mission to contribute to the well-being of society by developing, enhancing, and supporting the growth and vitality of the science of behavior analysis through research, education, and practice. Our mission is to promote and support the practice, research, education, and dissemination of behavior analysis throughout the state of Mississippi. BAAMS serves as a scientific and professional reference group for all in the State of Mississippi who identify themselves as scientists or practitioners in disciplines which embrace the principles and practices of behavior analysis. BAAMS works to identify and promote the use of effective, humane, and ethical behavioral procedures in meeting the educational and habilitative needs of persons that are typically developing and persons with developmental disabilities within the State of Mississippi. Additionally, BAAMS advises political, legislative, and policy-making bodies with respect to all matters pertaining to behavior analysis in the State of Mississippi and organizes and sponsors an Annual Convention, which serves as a forum for presentation of scientific progress, technological advancements, and clinical practice, as well as discussion of the affairs of the organization. BAAMS was founded on February 7, 2015 and became an affiliate state chapter of ABAI in 2015.

Officers

BAAMS is governed by an Executive Committee comprised of a president, past president, president-elect, treasurer, secretary, ABAI & APBA Representatives, the ad hoc student representative, and four members of the duly designated regions of the State.

President	Kayla Bates-Brantley, Ph.D., BCBA-D
Past President	Garret Yeager, BCBA, LBA
President Elect	Hailey Ripple, Ph.D., BCBA-D
Treasurer	Kathryn Rankin, BCBA, LBA
Secretary	Meredith Staggers, Ph.D., BCBA-D
ABAI Representative	Stephanie Mattson, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LBA
APBA Representative	Kayla Crook, Ph.D., BCBA-D
Region I Representative	Anna Claire Waldrup, BCBA, LBA
Region II Representative	Mary Autlman Weldon, BCBA, LBA
Region III Representative	Amanda Kirck, BCBA, LBA
Region IV Representative	Greg Standford, BCBA, LBA
Student Representative	No student representative for 2024

Elections for all officers and representatives are conducted near the Annual BAAMS Conference each year, which occurs annually in November. Present, past president, president-elect and student representative serve terms lasting January-December for each year. Treasurer and sectary serve 2-year terms. ABAI, APBA, and region representatives serve 3-year terms.

Membership

There are three types of membership with BAAMS: Full Members, Affiliate Member, and Student Member. The criteria and benefits of membership include:

Full Member (including original Founding Member of BAAMS): Any individual holding (a) at least a bachelor’s degree in behavior analysis, psychology, education, or related field, with training or professional experience in behavior analysis and whose full time professional commitment includes teaching, research, and/or practice in behavior analysis or (b) BACB certification (i.e., BCBA-D, BCBA, or BCaBA). Full members may vote and hold office.
Affiliate Member: Any member evidencing interest in the discipline of behavior analysis, but lacking formal training therein, may apply for this class of membership. Affiliate members are entitled to all benefits except for (a) the right to vote on matters of interest to the organization, and (b) the right to hold office. Affiliate members may serve as members on BAAMS committees.
Student Member (including original Founding Student Member of BAAMS): Any individual pursuing formal training in the discipline of behavior analysis, which may include programs in behavior analysis, psychology, education, or a related field but not yet gainfully employed therein on at least a half-time basis may apply for membership in this category. Such application must be accompanied by an endorsement on letterhead by a program coordinator or program official certifying the applicant’s student status. This application will be reviewed in a manner similar to the review of those candidates for Full Member status. Student members may neither vote nor hold office, though they may serve as members on BAAMS committees.

BAAMS currently has 78 active full members with 73 student members. Member meetings occurred as part of the annual meeting held at the BAAMS conference on October 24^th and 25^th, 2024.

Meeting Activity

The 2024 Annual BAAMS Conference took place in-person at The Riley Center in Meridian, MS on October 24^th and 25^th. Conference attendees could acquire nine general CEUs, two supervision CEUs, and one Ethics CEU for a total of 12 CEUs available. With 215 participants; speakers included:

Dr. Karen Bearss, PhD – Parent Training in the Real World
Dr. Karen Bearss, PhD – Parent Training using RUBI
Dr. Zachary LaBrot, PhD, BCBA-D – Behavioral Sleep Medicine in the Outpatient Setting
Dr. Dan Gadke, PhD, BCBA-D – Transition Programs and Providing Services to Adults with Autism
Molly Dubuque, BCBA – Creating Pathways to Promote Engagement with Front-Line Staff
Dr. Emily Mathis, PhD, BCBA-D – Ethical and Effective Treatment of Severe Behaviors in an Outpatient Setting
Dr. Jeannie Golden, PhD – Trauma and ABA
Shawn Capell, BCBA – Cultural Humility in Supervision Practices
Student research poster session

The 2025 BAAMS Conference is currently scheduled for November 6^th and 7^th and will be held at the Riley Center in Meridian, MS.

Other Activity

The BAAMS Executive Committee for the 2024/2025 year also made it a priority to set goals and objectives that would be prioritized for the organization within the year. A progress report across our five goals and supporting objectives can be found below:

Goal #1: Increase membership of full members across the calendar year. Comparison points will be enrolled on December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2024. **Goal #1 Met: Membership increased from 77 to 78 active full members.
Objective #1:	Maintain frequent social media posting (at least once a week) across the calendar year. **Objective Met: BAAMS organization posted to social media consistently and maintained posting across the year.
Objective #2:	Send targeted emails to LBAs across the state who are not current members of BAAMS to encourage participation. Progress Towards Objective: BAAMS will begin sending emails in April 2025.
Objective #3:	Send Qualtrics survey to current members to collect data on current level of commitment to BAAMS and solicit feedback and ideas for what they would like to see BAAMS provide/offer members. Progress Towards Objective: The executive council met about this and an EC member is developing a survey to disseminate to BAAMS members.

Goal #2: Increase advocacy for ABA services across the state by organizing specific advocacy efforts.
Objective #1:	Plan a day at the capitol for BAAMS members to raise awareness for ABA services in Mississippi. **Objective Met: Secured a day at the capitol for April 1^st, 2025.
Objective #2:	Establish a legislative advocacy committee position to support advocacy efforts in Mississippi. **Objective Met: The position has been established and the BAAMS EC is working on amending bylaws and setting up a vote for the advocacy position.

Goal #3: Increase member involvement and social opportunities beyond attending conference sessions.
Objective #1:	Host a happy hour event in Meridian, MS that overlaps with the BAAMS conference dates to promote member involvement and social engagement. **Objective Met: BAAMS hosted a happy hour event for members on Thursday, October 24^th at the Mississippi Children’s Museum – Meridian.
Objective #2:	Host one virtual CEU event outside of the annual conference. **Objective Met: BAAMS promoted a virtual CEU event for BCBAs across the state in September 2024. The citation for the presentation is included below: Mattson, S. L., Smith, H. M., Staggers, M., & Spencer, J. (2024, September). Behavior analysis goes to school: How behavior analysts can support students across the tiers. Professional development training provided for behavioral professionals across the state of Mississippi. Virtual.

Goal #4: Increase conference attendance by 10%. Progress Towards Goal: Met all objectives and increased conference attendance by 4%.
Objective #1:	Send targeted emails to members starting three months leading up to the conference and send one monthly leading up to the conference. **Objective Met: BAAMS sent targeted emails starting three months leading up to the conference.
Objective #2:	Maintain current number of sponsors, speakers, and CEUs offered from the 2023 conference. **Objective Met: BAAMS offered the same number of sponsors, speakers, and offered more CEUs during the 2024 conference.
Objective #3:	Develop a conference planning committee in March 2024 of EC members, or members at large who may be interested in planning and execution of conference-related tasks. **Objective Met: Conference planning committee successfully planned and executed conference-related tasks for the 2024 conference.

Contact Information:

Stephanie Mattson: slm1090@msstate.edu

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BAAMS15/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/baamsinfo