Connecticut ABA

By Elizabeth Smith

The Connecticut Association of Behavior Analysts (CTABA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the development and advancement of the field of behavior analysis within the state of Connecticut through research, education, and dissemination of information. We recently celebrated our 20th annual conference, held at the Omni Hotel in New Haven, Connecticut. CTABA is pleased to share our work from last year and plans for the next. Our current Board of Directors consists of 12 Directors with officers elected to the following roles: President (Elizabeth Smith), Secretary (Amy Lavoie), and Treasurer (Ruel Dixon). Our Executive Director, Dr. Melissa Hunsinger-Harris, is entering her third year of a three-year term. In order to effectively continue the work of CTABA, we identified several goals (1) Create standard operating procedures (SOP) to collect annual data on CTABA’s key performance indicators; (2) Implement SOPs for communications with members, potential members, and/or consumers; (3) create and ensure systems to ensure committee/SIG/Task Force objectives are met for completion of objectives, and (4) Ensure all BOD has awareness, access, and agreement to the above SOPs by identifying the current acting permanent products.

Our 19th annual conference, held at the CT Convention Center (Hartford) on March 3 and 4, 2023, was a sold out event, with 557 attendees participating in the full conference and 174 attendees in workshops. We received positive feedback regarding the content of our invited speakers, Dr. Jon Bailey, Dr. Patrick Friman, and Dr. Greg Hanley. Our Conference Committee strives to ensure that our events are successful and provides continuing education opportunities for members, associate members (including RBTs, students, consumers, and direct care staff) and non-members to access our events, and the content of our speakers is diverse and offers relevant information to all attendees. Our Organizational Members & Sponsorship Committee helps ensure that our local agencies and supporters are represented and able to access networking opportunities.

Our Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice Committee has been tremendously supportive in its mission to increase the representation and diversity of our practitioners, as well as provide increased access for consumers of services with high quality, equitable and inclusivity. CTABA held our first annual diversity training for the Board of Directors over the summer of 2023, which was an extremely beneficial and constructive workshop.

Our Public Policy and Legislative Outreach (PPLO) Committee continues to increase awareness of behavior analysis in the state. During the 2023 legislative session, testimony from PPLO was submitted on behalf of the CTABA Board of Directors on a number of issues related to the provision of behavior analysis within the state of CT. Most notably, we were able to get Senate Bill-320 on the table regarding the coverage of ABA services to children with diagnoses other than autism spectrum disorder. CTABA also contributed on a document with the CT Department of Education on BCBA Guidelines for Work in Public School. The CTABA PPLO committee has also advocated on issues with the Department of Insurance and Department of Social Services, as well as the states’ Medicaid plans, with positive results.

CTABA’s Membership committee has also demonstrated commitment to our mission in representing behavior analysts in our state. Our current membership has grown to 742 members (709 Full, 333 Associate), which is a 52% increase from membership at this time last year. We seek to ensure we are representing the interests of practicing behavior analysts in our state. According to the BACB, there are currently 1,330 BCBA-D and BCBAs living in Connecticut. According to the Department of Public Health, the state of Connecticut has awarded licenses to 1,457 behavior analysts at this time. CTABA also has 19 Organizational Members renewed for this year. We are pleased with our growth in membership and will continue to seek ways to support our Professional and Associate Members in 2024!

CTABA has had a productive and successful year, and we look forward to continuing our growth in collaboration with our affiliate partners in 2024.