Eye Contact, Joint Attention, and Autism: Session 238 with Francesca Degli Espinosa
The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria
Release Date: 09/14/2023
ABA Strategies for Safer Playground Behavior: Inside JABA 23
The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria
Welcome back to the Inside JABA series—this is Episode 23, and it's a must-listen for anyone interested in using Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to improve safety in school settings. In this episode, Dr. Jeannie Donaldson and Gabriela Gomes join Dr. John Borrero and me to discuss the paper, "" (note: first author, Elizabeth Linton unfortunately was not able to join us). 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This Episode: Playground Safety Statistics: The surprisingly high rates of injury during recess and why this matters. Behavior-Analytic Interventions: A review of previous ABA...
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Using ABA to Build Better Health and Fitness Habits: Session 303 with Michal Pollack
The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria
joined me to discuss how she uses her training in Behavior Analysis to help her with her personal health and fitness goals. Michal is a Clinical Director at . In this episode, we talk about: How she got her start in Applied Behavior Analysis. How she found her way to Apollo, and what she enjoys about working there. How she realized that getting fit doesn't require playing team sports, or being an athlete more generally. How spending time abroad during a gap year motivated her to adopt a healthier lifestyle. How going to the gym regularly helped her improve her emotional wellbeing....
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AI, Applied Behavior Analysis, and the Future of Clinical Tools: Frontera Series on AI with Sydney Holmes
The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria
Behavior Analysis Meets Artificial Intelligence , I had the pleasure of speaking with , a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and master’s level psychologist. Sydney is also the Clinical Product Lead at , where she’s helping bridge the gap between behavior analysis and artificial intelligence in some really exciting ways. Did you miss the first Frontera Series interview with CEO and Founder, Amol Deshpande? Check it out ! We covered everything from using AI tools for clinical work and content creation, to how machine learning is reshaping supervision, diagnostics, and parent...
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Supporting Parents in ABA Services with Valencia Harper from Apollo Behavior: Session 301
The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria
When it comes to Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), much of the focus is often placed on data collection, program goals, and measurable outcomes for the child. But what about the parents? Supporting caregivers is a critical, and sometimes overlooked, component of effective ABA services. In a recent podcast episode, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Valencia Harper, a seasoned clinician from Apollo Behavior, to talk about her thoughtful approach to working with families. Long-time listeners may remember Valencia from our Apollo Case Study Series, where she and her colleagues...
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Chronic Absenteeism and School Refusal: Session 300 with Kristen McNeely
The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria
Kristen McNeely joins me for an informative discussion about the challenging topic of School Refusal and Chronic Absenteeism. If you are in any way connected to a school community, you've probably heard about this difficult and growing problem. As we discuss in this episode, school refusal is an ever-growing concern, and it manifests itself in numerous ways. Kristen is both a BCBA and a Licensed Marital and Family Therapist in California, and she spends nearly all of her time working with parents who have children who engage in school refusal. In this episode, we cover: The distinction...
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Understanding Repetitive Behavior: Session 299 with Bill Ahearn
The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria
Dr. Bill Ahearn joins me in Session 299 of Behavioral Observation. I met Bill a few times at conferences and I'm so glad we finally had a chance to sit down and record a podcast together. Bill is the at . Long time listeners may recall that NECC sponsored a series of episodes, and in this podcast, we talked about some of the great research that has come out of that storied institution. As an aside, if you want to learn more about NECC, particularly working at NECC, you can find more information about that . We covered a lot of ground in this conversation, including: ...
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El Estado del Análisis de la Conducta en Puerto Rico con la Dra. Yaniz Padilla Dalmau: BOP en Español 14
The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria
El Estado del Análisis de la Conducta en Puerto Rico con la Dra. Yaniz Padilla Dalmau En este episodio, tuve el honor de conversar con la Dra. Yaniz Padilla Dalmau, una de las voces más comprometidas y visionarias en el desarrollo del análisis de la conducta en Puerto Rico. A través de una charla llena de realidades, aprendizajes y esperanza, exploramos el estado actual de la práctica de ABA en la isla, los desafíos sistémicos que enfrentan las familias y profesionales, y el impacto de barreras lingüísticas, económicas y estructurales. Yaniz comparte no solo el panorama de...
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Altering the Relative Efficiencies of Responses for Behavioral Improvement: Session 297 with Steve Ward
The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria
Steve Ward returns to the podcast to talk about a paper he recently published with co-author Teresa Grimes, titled, "." In this conversation, we review the highlights of this paper, and discuss things like The Matching Law, making desired behavior more efficient in generating reinforcement, making problem behaviors less efficient, and how altering reinforcement parameters like delay, magnitude, and schedules can enhance learner progress. We also talk about the work that Steve does with his company, , as well as a Q & A he will be doing on this topic that's coming up on . Steve is...
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Improving Access to Medical Care for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities: Session 296 with Brandon Franklin
The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria
Brandon Franklin returns to the podcast after a very long hiatus. You'll have to go back to Session 36 to hear his first appearance as a matter of fact. It turns out that he's been doing a lot of innovative clinical work in that time. Currently, he is the Chief Behavior Analyst for the and a Behavioral Consultant at . In these roles, Brandon has implemented various interventions to help individuals with intellectual disabilities access routine medical and dental care. If you're not familiar with this topic, it might sound pretty mundane, but as you'll hear, these populations...
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Response to Name Interventions for Staff and Caregivers: Inside JABA 22
The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria
This is not a show about teaching eye contact. We'll get to that in a bit. First though, I should note that the 22nd installment of the Inside JABA Series is coming out comically late. I apologize for getting us off schedule. The good news is that we already have a great paper to discuss for the 23rd Inside JABA episode that I think you're going to love, so I hope to have that one out later on in the spring. Back to this episode. Drs. Danny Conine and Jenn Fritz join me to discuss a paper Danny wrote with his colleagues called, "." There are so many great things about this paper, and listeners...
info_outlineWhat exactly is Joint Attention? How does Joint Attention interact with Eye Contact? What does the literature say about these repertoires, and how does that coincide with self-reports of the aversive nature of eye contact from Autistic people?
These have been a few of the questions rolling around in my head for some time. A few years ago, we briefly touched on this subject with my guest today, Dr. Francesca Degli Espinosa, but it was in the backdrop of a larger panel discussion at the 2022 Verbal Behavior Conference.
Fast forward to 2023, I recently heard Francesca on Dr. Mary Barbera's show talk about Joint Attention in great detail, so I asked her to join me to extend the conversation.
In this show, we cover:
- What people mean when they use the term Joint Attention
- How JA typically develops in infancy and beyond
- Why 'attention' may not be an especially helpful term
- Some of the neuroscience and eye tracking studies that have examined the development of eye contact in typically developing and Autistic populations
- How to increase the value of looking at peoples' faces
- Why eye contact should be thought of as a reinforcing consequence
- Some strategies to foster JA in the context of learner assent
- The difficulty of integrating the findings of different literatures that publish research in the area of Autism
- What she's talking about at this year's Stone Soup Conference (spoiler alert: She's going to go deep into this topic, and remember, save on your registration by using the promo code PODCAST)
- The problem associated with teaching eye contact via the 'look at me' method
Here are some of the links to the many resources we discussed:
- 2022 Verbal Behavior Conference Panel Discussion
- Francesca on Mary Barbera's podcast
- Francesca's available online courses
- Dube et al. (2004). Toward a Behavioral Analysis of Joint Attention
- Silva and Fiske (2020). Evaluating the Effects of Establishing Eye Contact on the Skill Acquisition of Individuals with Autism
- Nuske et al. (2015). No Evidence of Emotional Dysregulation or Aversion to Mutual Gaze in Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Eye-Tracking Pupillometry Study
- Clin and Kissine (2023). Neurotypical, but not autistic, adults might experience distress when looking at someone avoiding eye contact: A live face-to-face paradigm
- A sample of the many eye tracking studies conducted by Dr. Ami Klin and colleagues
This podcast is brought to you by:
The Stone Soup Conference, which is taking place on October 20th. Use code PODCAST to save on your registration as well.
The University of Cincinnati Online. UC Online designed a Master of Education in Behavior Analysis program that is 100% online and asynchronous, meaning you log on when it works for you. Want to learn more? Go to online.uc.edu and click the “request info” button.
Behavior University. Their mission is to provide university quality professional development for the busy Behavior Analyst. Learn about their CEU offerings, including their brand new 8-hour Supervision Course, as well as their RBT offerings over at behavioruniversity.com/observations.