Enhancing the effectiveness of Applied Behavior Analysis through Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT)

Despite the success of ABA practitioners in the field, there are areas where the field could do a much better job. For instance, helping caregivers deal with the challenges of raising a child with autism, staff burnout, and clients dealing with the dark side of higher language as they acquire it. These common challenges encountered by ABA practitioners often involve problematic language, rule deriving, and rule-governed behavior. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a behavior analytic evidence-based approach to enhance human wellbeing and performance while weakening the control of complex verbal repertoires. ACT aims to help individuals adapt to the current environment by increasing response variability (flexibility) and successfully obtaining life’s reinforcers even when in the presence of challenging experiences. With ACT, we can help caregivers thrive in the face of the difficulty of parenting a child with special needs, help motivate staff to do difficult work while preventing burnout, and help our clients acquire resiliency and flexibility while moving through life with a sense of purpose. With ACT, we as practitioners can continue to do our best work in the face of life and work challenges.

This workshop will introduce participants to a behavior analytic framework for doing ACT. The basic philosophical assumptions and principles of behavior analysis underlying ACT will be presented to orient clinicians to the ongoing assessment and intervention of verbal behavior within the scope of practice of behavior analysts. Roleplay and experiential exercises throughout the workshop will give participants a fundamental repertoire to use ACT, so they are better equipped to deal with the everyday challenges found in practice while improving ABA treatment outcomes.

About Luisa Cañon, Psy.D., BCBA-D: 

Dr. Cañon is a Clinical Behavior Analyst and a Licensed Psychologist in California. She has over two decades of experience working with families of children and adults with autism, developmental delays, and behavioral challenges from both Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) perspectives. She is the co-founder and director of research and development of the Institute for Effective Behavioral Interventions (IEBI), an organization that provides state-of-the-art behavioral intervention for children with autism, and the founder and director of ACT to Thrive, a center dedicated to the provision of ACT-focused training, consultation, and treatment services. Her current research projects include implementation of ACT with parents, youth, and staff; and training behavior analysts in relationship building, compassionate care, behavioral flexibility, and clinical behavior analysis. Dr. Cañon has leadership roles within the Association for Contextual Behavioral Sciences (ACBS) and is currently a graduate research mentor for the University of Nevada Reno.