2024 Fellow of ABAI – Dr. William H. Ahearn
Dr. William H. Ahearn
Dr. William H. Ahearn serves as the Director of Research at the New England Center for Children and as Adjunct Faculty for the Western New England University’s master’s and doctoral programs in behavior analysis. Dr. Ahearn’s research interests are varied and include peer reviewed publications on treating pediatric feeding disorders, teaching verbal and social skills, examining implications of the Behavioral Momentum metaphor, and exploring aspects of autistic behavior. Nonetheless, his most cited work is on assessing and treating automatically reinforced behavior, specifically, repetitive behavior and restricted interests. He has published over 100 papers in a variety of outlets. Dr. Ahearn has provided extensive service throughout his career. He has provided service for BABAT (Board member, President, chair of Professional Practice, ACE); APBA (Board member, President); BACB (SubjectMatter Expert, Exam Reviewer); ABAI (autism track coordinator); CASP (various workgroups); ONTABA; and Autism Speaks (training workgroup leader for the development of the challenging behavior toolkit). As BABAT’s chair of Professional Practice, Dr. Ahearn organized BABAT’s efforts relative to licensure in Massachusetts. After licensure was signed into law, he was appointed as an Applied Behavior Analyst member of the Allied Mental Health Julio de rose and Human Services Professions board in 2013. Subsequently, Dr. Ahearn was appointed chair of this omnibus board by both a Democratic and Republican Governor and continues to serve as the Acting Chair of this board.
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