Let's Talk Senior Care

Let's Talk Senior Care Info about ABA, Gerontology, Dementia care, ID/DD, Clinical practice and SO much more!

Did you know ABA has applications far beyond autism services? 🧠✨“All the Places You Can Go: A Survey of ABA in Gerontolo...
05/24/2026

Did you know ABA has applications far beyond autism services? 🧠✨

“All the Places You Can Go: A Survey of ABA in Gerontology” is a FREE CEU course designed for BCBAs interested in learning how behavior analysis can support older adults and aging services. The course explores research, education, community collaboration, and clinical practice opportunities within gerontology.

As the older adult population continues to grow, there is an increasing need for behavior analysts in dementia care, caregiver support, skill maintenance, staff training, and quality-of-life interventions. Behavioral gerontology is an expanding subspecialty that focuses on improving independence and reducing challenging behaviors through evidence-based, non-pharmacological supports.

If you’ve been curious about working with older adults or expanding your scope of practice, this is a great place to start.

Learn more here:
https://www.abilities.today/learn

“Jenny’s Diary” is such an important resource for anyone supporting individuals with intellectual or learning disabiliti...
05/24/2026

“Jenny’s Diary” is such an important resource for anyone supporting individuals with intellectual or learning disabilities and dementia. 🧠💙

This free resource was developed to help people have meaningful conversations about dementia in a way that is accessible, compassionate, and easy to understand. Through photos and storytelling, Jenny’s Diary shows how dementia may affect someone with a learning disability and offers guidance for families, caregivers, and professionals on how to provide support.

Resources like this remind us how important accessible communication and person-centered dementia care truly are.

If you work in aging services, behavior analysis, disability services, caregiving, or dementia support, this is absolutely worth exploring.

You can access Jenny’s Diary here:
https://squarepegtraining.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Jennys-Diary-learning-Disability-version.pdf

Hello to all our friends at the Association for Behavior Analysis International annual convention! 👋The 52nd Annual Conv...
05/23/2026

Hello to all our friends at the Association for Behavior Analysis International annual convention! 👋

The 52nd Annual Convention will take place May 21–25, 2026, at the Moscone Center West in San Francisco and brings together behavior analysts from around the world for research, collaboration, networking, and learning.

Whether you’re presenting, attending workshops, earning CEUs, or reconnecting with colleagues, we hope you have an amazing convention week filled with meaningful conversations and new ideas for advancing our field.

And to everyone talking about aging, dementia care, caregiver support, and behavior gerontology — we see you and appreciate the growing work happening in this area. 🧠💙

Safe travels and enjoy !

Learn more about the convention here: ABAI 2026 Annual Convention

If you’ve ever thought about expanding your ABA services into dementia care, this CEU is for you. 🧠✨“Starting Your Own P...
05/22/2026

If you’ve ever thought about expanding your ABA services into dementia care, this CEU is for you. 🧠✨

“Starting Your Own Practice in Dementia Care” is designed for BCBAs who want practical guidance on building services for older adults living with dementia. The course covers common barriers to service delivery, marketing strategies, recruitment, training opportunities, and funding mechanisms for behavior management services in dementia care.

With older adults representing one of the fastest growing populations, behavior analysts have a meaningful opportunity to support individuals living with dementia and their caregivers through evidence-based services. This course provides actionable tools to help clinicians begin that journey with confidence.

✔️ 2 CE credits
✔️ 100 minutes
✔️ Self-paced online format
✔️ Focused on real-world practice development in dementia care

Learn more here: www.abilities.today/learn

❓Have you heard of the NTG-EDSD (Early Detection Screen for Dementia in Adults with ID/DD)? It’s one of the most importa...
05/21/2026

❓Have you heard of the NTG-EDSD (Early Detection Screen for Dementia in Adults with ID/DD)? It’s one of the most important tools we have for identifying early cognitive changes in individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities — a group often underdiagnosed or diagnosed far too late.
For BCBAs, this tool matters.

✨ Many behavior changes we see in adults with ID/DD may actually be early signs of cognitive decline — not “noncompliance,” not “regression,” and not a sudden rise in challenging behavior.
✨ The NTG-EDSD helps us differentiate what’s behavioral from what’s neurological.
✨ Early detection means earlier supports, better planning, and improved quality of life.
✨ It helps the whole team (behavioral, medical, and caregiving) communicate using the same structured, organized information.

If you’re a behavior analyst working with aging adults or long-term ID/DD populations, the NTG-EDSD is a tool worth knowing, using, and teaching others about. Early screening = early dignity. 💛

Next Wednesday, May 20 is National Senior Health & Fitness Day—the nation’s largest older adult health and wellness even...
05/20/2026

Next Wednesday, May 20 is National Senior Health & Fitness Day—the nation’s largest older adult health and wellness event.

💪 Across the country, 100,000+ older adults participate at 1,000+ locations, with activities like fitness walks, health screenings, and exercise demos—all focused on keeping seniors healthy, active, and safe.

But movement doesn’t have to be a big event.

It can be:
• A short walk
• A few sit-to-stands
• Dancing to a favorite song

In senior care, we focus on function, not perfection—because small, consistent movement is what supports independence and quality of life.

🔗 More info: https://fitnessday.com/

👏👏Behavior Gerontology is growing… but let’s be honest—we don’t (yet) have clearly defined, field-wide competency guidel...
05/19/2026

👏👏Behavior Gerontology is growing… but let’s be honest—we don’t (yet) have clearly defined, field-wide competency guidelines.

So what do we do in the meantime?
We borrow. We adapt. We build.

One place many of us look is the American Psychological Association and their Guidelines for Psychological Practice With Older Adults. These guidelines are designed to help clinicians assess their readiness, expand their knowledge, and strengthen their skills when working with older adults.

🧠They cover critical areas like:
• Attitudes toward aging
• Knowledge of lifespan development
• Assessment and intervention
• Cultural responsiveness
• Ongoing training and consultation

Sound familiar? It should—because these are the same domains we’re trying to define in behavior gerontology.

Until our field formalizes its own competencies, we are piecing together best practices from psychology, gerontology, medicine, and ABA.

That’s not a weakness. That’s how emerging specialties are built.

But the goal is clear:
➡️ Behavior Gerontology deserves its own competency framework.

And we’re not there… yet.

📄 If you haven’t read it, here’s a foundational resource worth reviewing:
https://www.apa.org/practice/guidelines/guidelines-psychological-practice-older-adults.pdf

👵🏽🧠 The future of ABA includes older adults — are you ready?If you’ve been thinking about expanding into senior care and...
05/18/2026

👵🏽🧠 The future of ABA includes older adults — are you ready?

If you’ve been thinking about expanding into senior care and dementia services, our Behavior Gerontology CE Bundle was built for you.

🌟 SIX courses
⏳ 15 total CE hours
💸 $222.22 for the full bundle

Courses include:
1️⃣ All the Places You Can Go: A Survey of ABA in Gerontology
2️⃣ BCBAs in Dementia 101
3️⃣ Starting Your Own ABA Practice in Dementia Care
4️⃣ Ethics & Business Essentials
5️⃣ Behavior Assessment for Dementia Symptoms
6️⃣ Scrub-A-Dub-Dub: Shower Routines in Dementia

✔️ Practical, real-world application
✔️ Guided notes
✔️ Developed by BCBAs actively practicing in senior care

Whether you’re just exploring aging services or ready to build your own dementia-focused practice, this bundle gives you the foundation AND the next steps.

Start learning today 👉 www.abilities.today/learn

We’re excited to share a CE course from Enrich Behavioral Gerontology:📚 “Intellectual Disabilities and Dementia”This cou...
05/17/2026

We’re excited to share a CE course from Enrich Behavioral Gerontology:

📚 “Intellectual Disabilities and Dementia”

This course was designed specifically for Behavior Analysts working with adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities—one of the most complex and often underserved populations in our field, especially as they age.

As individuals with Dementia and IDD experience overlapping needs, clinicians need more than general training—we need targeted, applied, lifespan-specific skills.

In this course, you’ll learn how to:

✅ Identify early signs of dementia in individuals with ID
✅ Understand diagnosis—and what we can and should provide after it
✅ Adapt ABA practice for aging adults with changing needs
✅ Monitor meaningful indicators to guide support over time
✅ Review ABA research specific to ID and dementia

🎓 Developed by Dr. Zoe Lucock, Behavioral Gerontologist

This is about more than continuing education—it’s about building competence for a population that is too often overlooked in both aging and developmental services.

🔗 Enroll now: www.behavioralgerontology.com

One of the most important ways to keep a loved one healthy is simple… keep them clean.But in senior care, it’s not alway...
05/16/2026

One of the most important ways to keep a loved one healthy is simple… keep them clean.

But in senior care, it’s not always as straightforward as “just take a shower.”

When showers aren’t possible, we adapt:
• Sink baths
• “Bird baths”
• Hygiene support on the toilet
• Even bathing in the living room when needed

Dignity and flexibility matter just as much as the outcome.

Daily hygiene isn’t optional—it’s essential for skin integrity, infection prevention, and overall quality of life.

And here’s something that often surprises people:
Sometimes, hygiene data comes from tracking how often a person changes their underwear.

Why? Because it’s objective. It’s measurable. And it gives us real insight into patterns of care and independence.

This becomes a permanent product—something observable that helps us move beyond guesswork and into data-driven decision making.

In behavior gerontology, even something as basic as hygiene becomes an opportunity to assess, adapt, and improve care.

Transitions in care are some of the most vulnerable moments for individuals living with dementia: Hospital to home; Home...
05/15/2026

Transitions in care are some of the most vulnerable moments for individuals living with dementia: Hospital to home; Home to assisted living; Assisted living to skilled nursing.

And yet—this is where systems often break down.

A powerful review, Evidence-Based Interventions for Transitions in Care for Individuals Living With Dementia, highlights something we need to pay attention to:

It’s not the transition itself that creates the biggest risk…
It’s how we manage it.

The research identified key elements that actually improve outcomes:
• Involving both the individual and caregiver in goal-setting
• Preparing families for what transitions will look like
• Clear, timely communication across providers
• Strong interdisciplinary teams with dementia-specific competencies
• Using structured, evidence-based care models

Read that again—because none of that is accidental.

Good transitions are designed.

And here’s the part behavior professionals should be thinking about:

These elements align directly with what we value:
➡️ Person-centered care
➡️ Caregiver training
➡️ Skill building
➡️ Data-informed decision making
➡️ Interdisciplinary collaboration

Transitions shouldn’t feel chaotic or reactive.

They should be anticipated, taught, supported, and measured.

📄 Worth the read:
https://www.alz.org/getmedia/4dc7ea76-d984-449c-8f5c-0c05fbd7ca83/dementia-care-evidence-based-interventions-for-transitions-in-care-for-individuals-living-with-dementia-2018.pdf

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