Dr. Chris McGinnis joins me in Session 266 to talk about his work in Primary Care Behavioral Pediatrics. If you're not sure what that is, don't worry. We go over that right away and learn that this area of work sits in an important and underserved niche: The niche between the general behavioral advice dispensed by pediatricians, and intensive treatment for serious mental health challenges.

In a way, this conversation expands on something that Pat Friman brought up in our most recent interview: The idea that BCBAs are uniquely suited to provide families with this type of care. In order to provide direction to those who are interested in doing just this, Chris recently published Introduction to Primary Care Behavioral Pediatrics: A Guide for Behavior Analysts.

In our conversation, we covered:

·       His background in Behavioral Pediatrics, including his work at BoysTown (and meeting Pat Friman for the first time).

·       The motivation for writing his book.

·       The reification of psychological terms (see Skinner '45).

·       The myth of the Chemical Imbalance Hypothesis.

·       The range of behavior challenges he sees in his practice.

·       Thoughts on caregiver adherence.

·       The pros and cons of reimbursement practices, including the concierge model he has currently adopted.

·       Chris' study of Trauma-Informed Care.

·       Permissive vs. Authoritative, and how those related to adolescent mental health.... In other words, why parenting is like The Marshmallow Test.

·       Advice for the newly-minted BCBA.

This podcast is brought to you by the following:

• Please welcome our newest sponsor, The New England Center for Children! I am beyond thrilled to partner with one of the oldest and well-respected ABA institutions to help them find staff to continue their mission of supporting individuals with Autism. Learn more about careers at NECC over at necc.org/jobs.
• ACE Approved CEUs from .... Behavioral Observations. That's right, get your CEUs while driving, walking your dog, doing the dishes, or whatever else you might have going on, all while learning from your favorite podcast guests!
• HRIC Recruiting. Barb Voss has been placing BCBAs in permanent positions throughout the US for just about a decade, and has been in the business more generally for 30 years. When you work with HRIC, you work directly with Barb, thereby accessing highly personalized service. So if you're about to graduate, you're looking for a change of pace, or you just want to know if the grass really is greener on the other side, head over to HRIColorado.com to schedule a confidential chat right away.
• The Behavioral Toolbox. thebehavioraltoolbox.com is a new education and training site that my colleagues Anika Costa and Dr. Paulie Gavoni and I have been working on for over two years. We have two courses available: our first course, Ready, Set, Consult! and our newly released course, When Not to FBA: 5 Quick Strategies for Improving Behavior in Classrooms.