ABA United Arab Emirates

By Michelle P. Kelly

The Association for Behavior Analysis—United Arab Emirates (ABA-UAE) was officially affiliated with the ABAI on November 18, 2020. ABA-UAE registered with the Dubai Association Center (DAC) in September 2020 and was licensed on February 28, 2022.

ABA-UAE’s Executive Committee includes: Dr. Michelle P. Kelly, BCBA-D (President), Ms. Sharifa Yateem, BCBA (President-Elect), Ms. Linda Bailey, BCBA (Secretary), Ms. Nipa Bhuptani, BCaBA (Treasurer), and Adel Wahdain (Student Representative). The Board consists of the Executive Committee and the following members: Dr. Ebrahim Alhajri (Chair), Ms. Khawla Barley (Vice-Chair), and our member-at-large, Mr. Nicholas Orland, BCBA.

The chapter’s activities include, but are not limited to, the following:
Support a national licensing authority to test, license and renew licenses for behavior analysts in the UAE.
Organize educational activities including seminars, workshops, presentations and conferences, either alone or jointly with other professional organizations.
Organize networking opportunities for its members.
Serve the professional needs of behavior analysts in the UAE by working with relevant bodies.
Disseminate information to promote its mission to a wider audience by publishing bi-annual, bilingual, online newsletters.
Disseminate information to promote its mission to a wider audience by creating a bilingual chapter website. Attend and present at conferences/events outside the field of behavior analysis with a mission to disseminate the science.
Organize an annual business meeting to provide a forum for discussion of the affairs of the chapter.

ABA-UAE has been very active, aiming to achieve the goals outlined above. We would like to outline two of our biggest achievements to date this year. The first success is the continuation of the development of our chapter website: www.abauae.org The second success is the organization of online continuing education events for behavior analysts, in collaboration with Emirates College for Advanced Education (ECAE; www.ecae.ac.ae), a higher education institute which has previously offered the only Verified Course Sequences in the UAE.

Since May 2023, ABA-UAE has hosted 5 events, in collaboration with ECAE.
June 6, 2023, Burnout: Protecting the Supervisor & the Supervisee, Aline Atallah, BCBA, Health and Wellness Specialist, Mohamed bin Rashid Center for Special Education (Operated by The New England Center for Children)

June 6, 2023, Supporting Adults with Autism: Recommendations for Behavior Analysts, Sousan Razzouk, MA, BCBA, IBA

October 24, 2023, Amplifying Clients’ Voices in our Work: An Ethics Sampler, Sarah C. Mead Jasperse, PhD, BCBA-D; Cody Morris, PhD, BCBA-D, LBA; Alice Shillingsburg, PhD, BCBA-D, LP; Jennifer L. Austin, PhD, BCBA-D; Tara Fahmie, PhD, BCBA-D

March 5, 2024, Amplifying Children’s Voices: Towards a Better Understanding of Assent, Shannon N. Ward, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Clinical Director at the Mohamed bin Rashid Center for Special Education Operated by The New England Center for Children

March 5, 2024, Assessing Preference for Social Interaction in Children with Autism, Hiba Ghrair, MA PBA, BCBA, Lead—ABA Therapy, CognitiveBotics

To find and follow ABA-UAE on social media:
Twitter: twitter.com/ABA_UAE_ @ABA_UAE_
Instagram: www.instagram.com/aba_uae_association/