Puerto Rico Association for Behavior Analysis – 2025 Chapter Update

By Yaniz Padilla Dalmau

The Puerto Rico Association for Behavior Analysis (PRABA) was established with the mission of disseminating information about behavior analytic research and best practices in Puerto Rico, cultivating an ever-growing behavior analytic community, increase access to behavior analytic services, in part by engaging in public policy endeavors (e.g., working towards licensure for behavior analysts, advocating for insurance coverage for ABA), and to serve as a scientific, ethical, and professional reference and as a networking group for its members.

PRABA became an official ABAI affiliate chapter on July 22, 2022 and held its first conference on July 23-24, 2022. With the funds gathered from our first conference, we established our nonprofit corporation, launched our membership and benefits package, conducted various professional development and social events, and organized our 2024 conference.

Our major accomplishment this year was holding our second biannual conference in the University of Puerto Rico on October 11-12, 2024. The hybrid and bilingual two-day event was attended by 158 people in person and 14 people virtually through Behavior Live. Presenters included Benjamin Giraldo who delivered the keynote address, Yaniz Padilla Dalmau who delivered the presidential address, and Latinx invited speakers including Andrew Gardner, Haydee Toro, and Miguel Avila. For this conference we held our first call-for-papers and had over 20 submissions for papers, panels and symposia plus nine submissions for poster presentations. Some of the presenting behavior analysts are well-recognized in the field such as Jennifer McComas, Natalia Baires, Naima Bhana-Lopez, Denise Rios Arroyo, Valeria Parejo, and Edward Sanabria. In addition, we had presenters from a variety of countries such as the Dominican Republic, Spain, Puerto Rico, Australia, and the USA. Presentation topic areas included the state of ABA in Puerto Rico, the history of ABA for special populations, Essentials for Living, assessment and intervention of challenging behavior for Latinx families, ethics, early intervention programs, parent training programs, verbal behavior, Acceptance and Commitment therapy for Latinx caregivers, telehealth, ABA in primary healthcare, responsiveness and collaboration, feeding disorders, compassionate care, pica, among others. We also held an EXPO during which local ABA corporations, local nonprofits, credentialing agencies, software companies, and self-advocates had booths across both days of the conference. This event contributed to one of PRABA’s main goals which is to establish a cohesive professional community of behavior analysts in PR. The majority of the attendees this year were behavior analysts, therapists or were in similar professions and were seeking a community of professionals.

In addition to our conference, this year we continued working towards our mission of disseminating ABA through collaboration with the Special Education division of Puerto Rico’s Department of Education to improve ABA as a related service covered under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, disseminating research through our social media pages, and holding information sessions about how to become credentialed in ABA.

During 2025, PRABA will run its new membership campaign and will hold voting for new board members as all board members will complete their two-year terms. In June 2025, PRABA will hold two two-day continuing education events held by Miguel Avila to teach the basic training of Essentials For Living. In addition, we are working with the University of Puerto Rico’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service (UCEDD) to write legislation to obtain licensure for behavior analysts in Puerto Rico. Finally, PRABA is planning its third hybrid conference in Puerto Rico tentatively scheduled for February of 2026. The members of PRABA are looking forward to hosting our behavior analytic community in Puerto Rico again next year.