Tabitha Ebbert, MS, BCBA, LBA

08/19/2023

08/18/2023

Join us September 16th for Special Friends Day at Camp Hope!!☀️🏕️

Registration is NOW OPEN at the link in our comments, or you can scan the QR code:)

We can’t wait to see ya there😊

08/11/2023

05/17/2023

Check out all of the literacy support apps in this app wheel from CALL Scotland ! 😃

04/27/2023

Quote of the Day

04/04/2023

Enhanced Choice is a procedure that give learners with high magnitude and high severity target behaviors the option to walk away or end the session at any time. I unfortunately didn't know about it with a learner I had with a need for that. Interestingly, the procedure work! Really well! Amazingly well. Isn't it interesting how having the choice to walk away changes things?

This actually begs an interesting question, why is it that we haven't made this connection before? Also, why is it this approach is not being trained in every clinic and to every behavior analyst who works with people? Enhanced Choice works. It has its place with other behavior technologies, and I HIGHLY encourage you to read up on it and get proper training and support. Now ask yourself this, would you be willing to put yourself through the old escape extinction and forcing children to "comply, or would you rather have a choice to walk away.
My friend Imad Zaheer taught me something important. I no long use the term stake holders alone when considering ethical questions. I use rights holder along with stake holders, and rights holder always comes first. Why? Because human rights come first. Always.

So, as I wrote on the image of a person who is about to dive head first into a shallow pool with huge spikes in it, "it is NOT a choice if they can't walk away."

You can now access the Seeing Neurodiversity Through the Behavior Science Lens by going here: https://mindfulbehaviorllc.org/courses/seeing-neurodiversity-through-the-behavior-science-lens/
$30 for 2 Ethics CEUs. We are working on making it so there is a non-CEU option for those interest in learning at a lower cost.

Art Courtesy CDD20 ( https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064649505710&mibextid=ZbWKwL ) via Pixabay.

03/31/2023

Parents are often concerned that choosing to teach their child sign, rather than focusing on vocal language production, may harm their acquisition of vocal language. This study demonstrates the opposite my be true. Learning sign language does not harm vocal language acquisition!

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36972338/ #:~:text=Children%20with%20large%20ASL%20vocabularies,not%20harm%20spoken%20vocabulary%20acquisition.

02/24/2023

When we stop to 'read between the lines' of our children's behavior, we can tune into their hearts, their hurts, their confusion, their frustration, their needs. That’s how we connect with our little humans to guide and help and heal them instead of simply correcting their behavior.

Always let L.O.V.E. be your guide:
💞
Listen - “I hear you.”
Observe - “I see you.”
Validate - “I accept you.”
Empathize - “I understand you.”
💞

Then when the need behind the behavior is met, when they feel seen and heard and understood, you can work together to come up with better ways of expressing their needs in the future. But remember, growing up is a process and it takes a LOT of practice. They won’t get it right every time. They may not even get it right most of the time. But over time you’ll see them grow more and more confident and capable of understanding and expressing their needs verbally and relationally. They won’t ever be perfect, though, and that’s okay. We aren’t, either.💞
-L.R.Knost

📷 Positive Parenting: Toddlers and Beyond Dance with me in the Heart 💞

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📚Peaceful Parenting Resources: http://t.co/T8goym3P6Z 📚
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Please respect the work of authors, photographers, and artists. You are welcome to share provided you include appropriate credit and do not crop out author’s names from quote memes. Thank you. 🙂

www.LRKnost.com

Fighting a rare, incurable cancer, but I'm still here!💞 L.R.

02/17/2023

Excellent reminder ☝️

📷 EdpsychEd
Via Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC)

02/15/2023

One of our favorite viral posts! 🥰

11/10/2022

Words can’t even begin to describe how wonderful this women truly was to the ABA community. My heart goes out to her family and friends. The impact that this precious soul had on shaping my career can never fully be expressed. I remember while in my graduate program completing my supervision hours thinking “if this is what ABA is I don’t want anything to do with it”, but Tameika was a breath of fresh air and showed me that ABA is beautiful and that my thoughts were valid on how I wanted my patients to be treated with compassion. She showed me that my gut feeling of never wanting to change a human was correct. She made me feel like instead of being this radical outlier that I was indeed part of a bigger community of ABA professionals that truly wanted to change our field and do better. Thank you Tameika for all that you did and a very special thank you to Tameika’s family for sharing her with us. May your sweet soul rest in peace.

We are incredibly saddened to hear of the passing of Tameika Meadows, BCBA, author of the The "I Love ABA" Blog and numerous books and resources for families and practitioners. She was an astute observer, a champion of client dignity and therapists' rights, and an advocate of compassionate practices. She had a cutting sense of humor in her writing and was kind, humble, and extremely insightful when she came on the show last year. Tameika, thank you for giving the world so much of yourself. You will be greatly missed by our community. ❤️

11/05/2022

Didn't like any of the fidget rules or expectations I found online so I made my own 🤷🏼‍♀️ Some of my least favorite and most perplexing rules that I saw while searching, and how I would replace them:
"Look at the teacher, not at the fidget."--> Look wherever you need to remain engaged in the lesson.
"Using a fidget is a privledge." -->Using tools to support your learning is a right.
"Fidgets should not make noise." -->Fidgets should be quiet enough that they do not prevent others from learning.
"Before you use a fidget, ask yourself if you *really* need it." -->All students can decide what tools are helpful for them through exploration and self-reflection.
"Do not let others notice the fidget."-->If your peers ask about your fidget, remind them that they can get one from the classroom tools table, too!
What would you add to create respectful, affirming expectations around the use of fidgets?
Edit/update: Wow, did not expect this to get so much attention. I didn't love the "rules" I came up with, so I am SO grateful for all the amazing people providing feedback. While I think guidelines are important for safety and access to learning, I also in no way want to prevent or limit students' attempts at regulating. Also for clarity on two things:
1. Students should always have free access to breaks. If a fidget isn't cutting it and/or isn't being used safely, it's possible that a break is needed.
2. This was designed for a single student who needed more explicit rules. I don't recommend taking this and using it for all students without collaborating and problem-solving with them around how they will use this tool.
[ID: A piece of paper sits on a desk surrounded by a variety of fidgets. The paper is labeled "Fidget Rules" and lists the following rules with visual supports: "I can choose one fidget to use at a time," "The fidget stays in my hands, on my desk, in my lap, or on the floor beside me," "My ears are still listening while using a fidget," "I follow teacher directions amd classroom expectations while using a fidget," "If I can't complete and assignment while using a fidget, I will put it down so I can work."]