Liz Maher is a behavior analyst and a mom. Her oldest daughter, Sarah, was diagnosed with autism back in 1998. In addition to supporting her own daughter’s education and development, Liz also became a BCBA. She worked for close to 15 years supporting Pennsylvania school teachers in applying behavioral analytic principles in their classrooms. Along with her husband Steve, Liz founded a company called DataMTD, which produces online applications for two of the most widely used assessments in ver...
Over my 20-plus years in the behavior field, I haven’t heard a lot of talk about self-management. One place I did hear about it was in 2018 at the ABA International conference. I participated in a workshop called “Exploring the Systematic Use of Self-Monitoring as a Behavioral Intervention: The Self and Match System”. That presentation was given by my two guests, Dr. Katharine M. Croce and Jamie Salter. Katie and Jamie are responsible for the main school-based self-monitoring system I u...
Everyone loves tips and advice, but where do you get the advice you can trust? One of the things I try to do with my video blog is to give parents important tips and advice that can help them become more successful with their children. Here, I’m sharing some of the best tips and advice from my blog over the past half year, including: 5 tips to avoiding bad behavior in your kidsHow to discipline your kids through the use of consequencesHow to handle sensory issuesI finish things off with infor...
Last week, I covered how to teach a pre-verbal child to imitate sounds on request as we build toward teaching them how to talk. Here, we’ll cover the motivational aspects of learning a language and how to teach children to ask for things they want in increasingly complex ways. For some children, learning how to talk is a really high hurdle to get over on their own. Many of the traditional approaches to teaching children how to talk fall short. I share the whys and hows of teaching a child to ...
According to the CDC, an estimated 40% of children with autism spectrum disorder are non-verbal. That means as many as 40% of children working through potential challenges related to autism are trying to do so without the full use of vocal language to help them. As many as 70% of childhood behavior problems come from a child not being able to adequately express their needs or desires. I’ve worked directly with many of these pre-verbal children who were unable to learn how to communicate throu...
Reg Reynolds is an author with a Ph.D. in psychology. I’ve known about Reg for a long time, and he contacted me shortly after I wrote my first book. Reg has written quite a few books and the one most in line with what my audience would be interested in is called “Teaching Children with Autism: An ABA Primer”. Reg has since retired, but I think his work and perspective on the field of disabilities and education is very valuable to us all. Our conversation includes a discussion on changes we’ve...
As we close in on the end of 2022, I want to look back on the first year of the podcast. Here, I’ll be sharing with you my favorite moments, quotes, and interview segments. I’m also excited to announce that as of December 1st, we’ve hit the 2,000-download milestone! It’s a huge accomplishment and I’d like to thank each and every one of you for tuning in, sharing the links to the episodes with others, and engaging in discussion with your networks. We couldn’t have hit this number without your ...
It’s our first holiday season at Just 7 Steps and it’s been such a wonderful year so far. I searched the internet for someone who could provide us with valuable hints and suggestions as we head into this busy time of the year. It’s important to make the holidays as peaceful, joyful, and fun for families of all kinds as possible. Leanne Page is a BCBA, parenting coach, author of two books, and mom to two elementary-aged kids. She shares the science of behavior with all parents to help them sav...
It’s been a busy year here at Just 7 Steps. In addition to starting this podcast, I’ve also been creating and sharing a weekly video blog, covering several interesting and helpful topics. Many of those topics weren’t quite large enough to be their own podcast episode, but there were a ton of great tips that deserve to be shared. We’ve posted over 20 videos, ranging in topics from why kids won’t behave to how to be a more confident parent. Here, I cover what I call my “greatest hits”, which in...
One of my favorite things to do is interview parents of children who have benefited from behavioral support and education. Many of the parents I’ve met over the course of my career have proven to be the most tenacious in helping their kids find answers to their educational needs. Kelsey General is a mother to two amazing young boys with an autism diagnosis. Kelsey has searched far and wide to get the best help for her boys. She’s worked directly with me, Dr. Megan Miller, and Dr. Mary Barbera...
Everybody wants to have a better relationship with their children. Is there a way to guide your children to adult-level skills and abilities while maintaining a strong and positive relationship that can carry you both through the rest of your lives? It’s easy to become overwhelmed with how much we need to teach our kids, and that they’ll need to accept that life doesn’t always line up with their hopes, dreams, and desires. Children are a bit like unfinished products that need a ton of help an...
In part three of our conversation with BCBA Steve Ward, we continue our helpful and informative discussion about motivation. If you missed parts one and two, make sure you check them out. Steve’s been in the field since 1995 and has co-authored a total of five amazing books. We discuss the difference between prompting behavior and shaping behavior and knowing how to do both well is important. Here, Steve dives into the adjustment professionals need to make related to these two key processes a...
Last week, we started our interview with BCBA, Steve Ward and we had an extremely interesting conversation. It lasted so long that I decided to break the interview into three parts, and you won’t want to miss any of them. If this is the first episode you’ve found, make sure to look at part one. Here, in part two with Steve, we discuss the common misconceptions of motivation. One is the assumption that contracts made can be sustained by positive reinforcement. However, sometimes, the real reas...
Steve Ward is a long-time friend of mine. We started hanging out with each other at the ABA conferences, bonded over our love of music (Steve plays piano, I play harmonica and ukulele), and we bonded over our love of motivation as a concept in education. One of Steve’s quotes is on the back of my book, and I even mention Steve within the book as I tell a story about how he was one of the first people to introduce me to the advanced concepts of verbal behavior. Steve’s been in the field since ...
My goal for the Just 7 Steps Podcast is to help share the value of evidence-based behavioral education with a wider, more diverse audience. Every parent of every child should know the secrets of developing a great relationship with their child while still being able to guide them to become their best selves. Parents have one of the most important jobs in the world, but the truth is most parents aren’t given the useful, practical information they need to do the job effectively. Behavior analys...
A Token economy is a motivation plan because it sets up contingencies that are designed to motivate and ultimately reinforce specific behavior. Does it immediately work for everyone? It would be great if it did but you have to utilize it strategically for it to really reinforce a specific behavior you’re working on with your child or student. We’ve covered what a token plan is, how it works, and why it might not be working for you in part 1 and in part 2, I went step-by-step through the pro...
Token plans are important, as they allow you to motivate your child without having to immediately offer cumbersome, tangible reinforcement for their good behavior. They allow you to teach your child about the world of earning and buying, and that effort equals reward. In part one of this two-part series, we discussed how tokens can be used to delay reinforcement in motivation plans. I also introduced token economies as a concept, explained their importance, and discussed some of the biggest m...
What is a token economy or system and why are they recommended by just about everyone who helps your child? Are they effective and if so, how? And why isn’t it working for you? In this three-part series, we’re covering all things token economies. By definition, a token economy is anything that is set up to allow you to offer a symbol as a promise of future reinforcement. It’s a great way to delay giving tangible reinforcers or splitting up larger reinforcers to make them more useful in the ho...
I’m continuing my discussion with Emily Wilson on the importance of assent in education. We last left off talking about my plans to rebrand Step Seven as a troubleshooting step. In other words, show your child that not following your most important instructions will not usually result in the same levels of reinforcement. All non-participation will be analyzed and problem solved, but it will also be respected. When we look at Step Seven as a troubleshooting step, it helps you consider all of y...
Today on the Just 7 Steps Podcast, I get the distinct honor and pleasure to talk to a very fine and increasingly well-known behavior analyst, and deservedly so. I’ve been fortunate enough to have presented several times with Emily in recent years and one of the main topics of our discussions has been the importance of assent in education. The term “assent” refers to the physical demonstration of consent, meaning that if someone doesn’t offer verbal or written consent, perhaps maybe they’re no...
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