Congratulations to Sebastian Garcia-Zambrano on being selected as the Student Spotlight Award winner for February 2021!
The purpose of this award is to highlight students who are doing important work in the CBS community whether for research, clinical, and/or volunteer-humanitarian efforts.
This is a way to highlight their achievements, let the ACBS community know important work students are doing, and possibly provide a platform for mentoring, collaboration, professional development, and conversations around highlighted areas.
Learn more about Sebastian Garcia-Zambrano:
Background of CBS Research/Clinical/Volunteering efforts/achievements:.jpg)
As part of his studies in the United States, Sebastian joined the SIU Center for Autism and Spectrum Disorders (CASD), where he was part of a team focused on verbal behavior, social skills, and Acceptance and Commitment Training for children and adolescents diagnosed with ASD.
He considered that the most significant achievement is to improve the quality of life of individuals with disabilities through the use of Acceptance and Commitment Training. His thesis was focused on the evaluation of the effects of deictic framing and defusion on the rate of verbalizations associated with self-as-context in individuals with disabilities. Results were presented at the 2018 ACBS conference and published in the JCBS in 2019. Moreover, he conducted a study with Dr. Mark Dixon, Dr. Becky Barron, and Dr. Natalia Baires to evaluate the effects of ACT-based exercises before the session on staff rigidity and positive interactions among therapists for children with ASD. Results of this study were presented at the 2019 ABAI conference.
In addition, he conducted a study under the supervision of Dr. Shane Koch to evaluate the feasibility of an RFT-based codification of relational frames. Results are under review in the JCBS. As an extension of this study, he is working on the development of a computer-based program to code spatial, temporal, and conditional frames.
Also, he helped Dr. Natalia Baires in the design and reliability measurement of a cultural adaptation of ACT for Hispanic/Latinx caregivers of children with autism. This study was a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy for Dr. Natalia Baires and it was presented in the 2020 Virtual Congress of the Iberoamerican Society of Psychology.
Currently, he is developing a protocol to extend previous studies on perspective-taking under the supervision of Dr. Shane Koch. He wants to connect the latest findings on Contextual Behavioral Science with the current status of cognitive research on "Theory of Mind". Also, he is working on the development of an RFT-based protocol to evaluate deictic frames involved in visual, emotional, and cognitive perspective-taking skills.
Autobiography:
Sebastian Garcia-Zambrano is a Colombian doctoral candidate at the School of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences, Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He is part of the lab of Dr. Shane Koch, and his research interests are verbal behavior, self-awareness, and Relational Frame Theory. He studied his masters at Southern Illinois University under the supervision of Dr. Ruth Anne Rehfeldt and his bachelor's at Konrad Lorenz Fundación Universitaria in Bogotá, Colombia.
Sebastian has been working for more than ten years with individuals with disabilities and is currently working at a residential facility. He started his professional life by providing behavioral services to children and adolescents diagnosed with autism at an agency called Horizontes ABA in Bogotá, Colombia. Then, Sebastian moved to the United States to study under the supervision of Dr. Rehfeldt. He joined the SIU Center for Autism and Spectrum Disorders (CASD), where he was part of a team focused on verbal behavior, social skills, and Acceptance and Commitment Training for children and adolescents.
Currently, he is developing a protocol to extend previous studies on perspective-taking under the supervision of Dr. Shane Koch. He wants to connect the latest findings on Contextual Behavioral Science with the current status of cognitive research on "Theory of Mind". Currently, he is working on the development of an RFT-based protocol to evaluate deictic frames involved in visual, emotional, and cognitive perspective-taking skills.
Future goals:
My goal is to extend previous studies on perspective-taking and connect the field with traditional perspectives on perspective-taking. I am also working on a project to develop a computer-based program to identify relational frames from transcripts and discourses.
Relevant publications:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sebastian_Garcia-Zambrano
Book Chapters
Garcia, Y., Rosales, R., & Garcia-Zambrano, S., Rehfeldt, R.A. Basic Verbal Behavior (2020). In M. J. Fryling, R.A. Rehfeldt, J. Tarbox, & L. Hayes (Eds.), Applied behavior analysis of language and cognition: Core concepts and principles for practitioners. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.
Peer-Reviewed Publications
García- Zambrano, S., Rehfeldt, R. A., Hertel, I. P., Boehmert, R. (2019). Effects of deictic framing and defusion on the development of self-as-context in individuals with disabilities. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 12, 55-58. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212144718302047
García, Y. A., Cristiano, L., & García, S. (2013). Development of language in children: A behavior analysis perspective. Horizontes Pedagógicos, 15(1), 8.
Works under Review
Tilden, V., Barron, B., Dixon, M.R., & García-Zambrano, S. (under review). Effects of mindfulness and ACT-based exercises on positive interactions among therapists for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal in Contextual Behavioral Science.
García-Zambrano, S., Baires, N. A., Catrone, R. G, Goyal, M. K., Hinman, J. M., Babbra, A. S., & Koch, D. S. (under review). A Preliminary Analysis on the Reliability of Coding Political Discourses According to Relational Frames. Journal in Contextual Behavioral Science.
Baires, N., García-Zambrano, S., & Koch, D. S. (under review). Missing Identities: Who is Participating in Teaching Behavior Analysis within Higher Education? Behavior Analysis in Practice.
Britwum, K., García-Zambrano, S., Baires, N. A., Koch, D. S. (under review). Policing and Values: A Behavioral Conceptualization of the Values that Influence actions of Police. Behavior Analysis in Practice.