The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria

En este episodio, Miguel conversa con Janet sobre la conducta verbal desde una perspectiva práctica y cultural. A lo largo de la conversación, exploran por qué la conducta verbal sigue siendo una de las áreas más importantes —y a veces más incomprendidas— dentro del análisis de conducta y la educación.
Janet comparte su trayectoria como latina, educadora, investigadora y líder en múltiples iniciativas dentro del campo, así como su experiencia trabajando con comunidades bilingües y culturalmente diversas. Juntos discuten conceptos fundamentales de la conducta verbal, diferencias entre el enfoque de Skinner y la lingüística tradicional, y cómo la motivación, la función y el contexto transforman la manera en que entendemos la comunicación.
El episodio también aborda temas esenciales como el acceso a formación en español, los retos de trabajar con herramientas centradas en el inglés y la necesidad de desarrollar prácticas verdaderamente culturalmente responsivas. Además, conversan sobre iniciativas en América Latina, mentoría para nuevos analistas de conducta, investigación aplicada y el futuro de la conducta verbal en comunidades hispanohablantes.
Una conversación profunda, accesible y relevante para analistas de conducta, educadores, terapeutas, estudiantes y familias interesadas en comprender la comunicación desde una perspectiva más funcional, humana y contextualizada.

Verbal Behavior: Culture, Context, and Functional Communication
In this episode, Miguel speaks with Janet about verbal behavior from a practical and cultural perspective. Throughout the conversation, they explore why verbal behavior continues to be one of the most important — and sometimes misunderstood — areas within behavior analysis and education.
Janet shares her journey as a Latina educator, researcher, and leader across multiple initiatives in the field, as well as her experience working with bilingual and culturally diverse communities. Together, they discuss foundational concepts in verbal behavior, differences between Skinner's approach and traditional linguistics, and how motivation, function, and context shape the way we understand communication.
The episode also addresses key topics such as access to verbal behavior training in Spanish, challenges associated with English-centered tools and terminology, and the importance of culturally responsive practices. In addition, they discuss initiatives across Latin America, mentorship for emerging behavior analysts, applied research, and the future of verbal behavior within Spanish-speaking communities.
A thoughtful, accessible, and highly relevant conversation for behavior analysts, educators, therapists, students, and families interested in understanding communication through a more functional, humane, and contextualized lens.

Many behavior analysts have experienced the frustration of teaching a skill successfully in one setting only to discover that it doesn't transfer to the situations where it actually matters. In this episode, I sit down with Kristina Montgomery and Emily Beal Wilkinson of Victory Academy to discuss how Essential for Living (EFL) and event-based teaching can help bridge that gap.
Kristina and Emily share their professional journeys into behavior analysis and describe how discovering Dr. Patrick McGreevy's Essential for Living framework reshaped their approach to supporting learners with limited skill repertoires. Rather than focusing on isolated skill acquisition, EFL prioritizes the development of functional, meaningful skills that improve quality of life and increase independence.
A major focus of our conversation is event-based teaching, an instructional approach that embeds learning opportunities within naturally occurring and highly meaningful activities. From gardening and cooking to operating school cafés and participating in role-playing activities, Kristina and Emily explain how these experiences allow practitioners to teach multiple skills simultaneously while creating natural sources of reinforcement.
We also discuss:
How Kristina and Emily first discovered Essential for Living and why it resonated with their clinical experiences.
Why traditional skill-building approaches sometimes fail to produce meaningful generalization.
The concept of "stacking" activities to address multiple goals through a single event.
Examples of event-based teaching activities including gardening, cooking, cafés, and community-based experiences.
A detailed case study illustrating the transition from VB-MAPP-style programming to contextual, event-based instruction.
How literacy, communication, social, and adaptive skills can be embedded within meaningful activities.
The role of natural reinforcement in improving learner engagement.
Their innovative health and wellness program designed to teach tolerance for medical and dental procedures.
How desensitization training can reduce the need for sedation, restraint, and other restrictive practices.
The collateral benefits these programs create for families and healthcare providers.
Research questions related to contextual instruction, assessment, staff satisfaction, and BCBA training.
Advice for newly certified behavior analysts on professional development and values-based practice.
This episode will be especially valuable for behavior analysts, special educators, and anyone supporting individuals with significant support needs who are looking for practical ways to make instruction more meaningful, functional, and socially significant.
Resources discussed in this episode:
Essential for Living
Dr. Patrick McGreevy (see Pat's previous BOP episodes here!)
Victory Academy
Katy Bowman and the concept of activity stacking
Session 218 with Troy Fry
Event Based Teaching course (save with code BOP20)
Essential for Living course (save with code BOP20)
Sponsor Shoutouts
CEUs from Behavioral Observations. Learn from your favorite podcast guests while you're commuting, walking the dog, or whatever else you do while listening to podcasts. New events are being added all the time, so check them out here. 
The BOP Patreon. Do you want to get the show ad-free and before everyone else? Click here to learn how!
Safety-Care is a crisis prevention and de-escalation training program designed for professionals who support individuals with challenging behavior. More than 300,000 professionals have been trained in Safety-Care's evidence-based approach to recognizing early warning signs and responding with confidence. To learn more, visit QBS.com/podcast.
The Behavioral Toolbox International. Check out our courses for school-based and other behavioral professionals, including our newest one, Motivational Interviewing: Getting Educator Buy-In.
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How do we determine when a learner has truly mastered a skill?
In behavior analysis, performance criteria such as "80% correct across two sessions" have become nearly ubiquitous. Yet despite their widespread use, many practitioners may be surprised to learn that these criteria have relatively little direct empirical support.
In this episode, I'm joined by Drs. Sarah Richling and Dr. Daniel Fienup to discuss the history, research, and practical implications of mastery criteria in applied behavior analysis. Drawing on their independent lines of research, Sarah and Dan examine how different criterion levels influence skill maintenance and why behavior analysts should think carefully about what constitutes meaningful mastery.
We begin by defining the terminology surrounding mastery and performance criteria and explore several important dimensions that are often overlooked, including criterion level, criterion frequency, supplementary variables, and units of analysis.
The conversation then turns to the origins of the commonly used 80% and 90% thresholds. Although these criteria appear throughout ABA training and practice, Sarah and Dan explain that their widespread adoption may owe more to tradition than to empirical validation.
We also discuss findings from their research comparing 50%, 80%, and 90% mastery criteria. Their studies suggest that higher performance criteria may produce stronger maintenance outcomes under some conditions, but they emphasize that practitioners should resist the temptation to adopt a new universal rule.
Along the way, we explore:
The distinction between mastery criteria and performance criteria.
Why "80% correct" became so common in ABA.
Historical influences from early behavior analytic and educational research.
Research comparing 50%, 80%, and 90% mastery criteria.
The relationship between mastery criteria and long-term maintenance.
Why some behaviors may require near-perfect performance.
The importance of considering the natural environment when setting performance standards.
How units of analysis can affect instructional decision making.
The risks of relying on aggregated data when teaching multiple skills.
Generalization, maintenance, and supplementary variables.
Lessons from Precision Teaching regarding fluency and functional mastery.
Why performance criteria should be individualized rather than universally prescribed.
Research opportunities for practitioners and graduate students interested in instructional design.
Throughout the discussion, Sarah and Dan make a compelling case for moving beyond inherited rules and toward a more individualized, evidence-based approach to instructional decision making.
Whether you're designing skill acquisition programs, supervising trainees, or simply curious about the assumptions that shape everyday practice, this episode offers a thoughtful examination of one of the most common—and least questioned—features of behavior analytic instruction.
About the Guests
Dr. Sarah Richling
Sarah Richling is a Clinical Associate Professor at Auburn University and serves as Director of Auburn's Master's Program in Applied Behavior Analysis. She has more than two decades of experience as a practitioner, researcher, and educator, with interests spanning instructional design, performance criteria, and effective teaching practices.
Dr. Daniel Fienup
Dan Fienup is a behavior analyst and researcher whose work has focused on instructional variables that affect skill acquisition, maintenance, and educational outcomes. His research on mastery criteria has helped clarify the relationship between performance standards and long-term retention of learned skills.
Resources Mentioned in This Episode
Fienup and Carr (2021). The use of performance criteria for determining "mastery" in discrete-trial instruction: A call for research.
Fuller and Fienup (2018). A Preliminary Analysis of Mastery Criterion Level: Effects on Response Maintenance.
Richling, Fienup, and Wong (2023). Establishing Performance Criteria for Skill Mastery.
VanDevander, Warner, Kazemi, and Famie (2023). Creating a reference range of common problem behaviors and replacement behaviors in neurotypical children.
Vladescu, Gureghian, Goodwyn, and Campanaro (2020). Comparing skill acquisition under different stimulus set sizes with children with autism spectrum disorder: A replication.
Conditioning Books as Reinforcers: How to Increase Reading Engagement in Young Children: Inside JABA 26.
Sponsor Shoutouts!
Behavior University. Their mission is to provide university quality professional development for the busy Behavior Analyst. Learn about their CEU offerings, including their 8-hour Supervision Course, as well as their RBT offerings over at behavioruniversity.com/observations. Don't forget to use the coupon code, PODCAST to save at checkout!
Safety-Care is a crisis prevention and de-escalation training program designed for professionals who support individuals with challenging behavior. More than 300,000 professionals have been trained in Safety-Care's evidence-based approach to recognizing early warning signs and responding with confidence. To learn more, visit QBS.com/podcast.
Learn from your favorite podcast guests while you're commuting, walking the dog, or whatever else you do while listening to podcasts. New events are being added all the time, so check them out here. 
HRIC Recruting. Cut out the middleman and speak directly with Barbara Voss, who's been placing BCBAs in great jobs all across the US for 15 years.
The BOP Patreon. Do you want to get the show ad-free and before everyone else? Click here to learn how!

In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Jenny Demark, Conrad Leung, and Dr. Linda Reinstein to talk about their new book, Complex Kids, Simple Solutions: How to Raise Resilient, Confident, Likable Kids.
These are clinicians who've spent years working directly with families dealing with everything from emotion regulation challenges, to childhood anxiety, to severe behavioral challenges, and what I liked about this conversation is that it stayed extremely practical throughout.
We spent a lot of time talking about their "Prepare, Teach, Motivate" framework, and how parents and professionals can think more systematically about helping kids build resilience and coping skills rather than just reacting to challenging behavior in the moment.
Along the way, we discussed:
Why some children require more intentional and consistent parenting approaches than others.

How to build stronger relationships with kids who engage in challenging behavior.

The importance of following a child's interests to create meaningful connection.

Screen time struggles and how to reduce device dependence without escalating conflict.

Emotion regulation strategies for children with frequent outbursts.

Why many young children struggle to generalize skills learned in traditional talk therapy.

The role of parental accommodation in maintaining anxiety and avoidance.

Practical approaches to school refusal and helping kids gradually face difficult situations.

Why parent coaching is often more effective than focusing exclusively on the child in therapy.

The importance of self-care for parents and practitioners alike.

I think this episode will be especially valuable for behavior analysts, school professionals, clinicians, and of course parents trying to support kids with more complex behavioral and emotional needs.
Related links and resources:
Complex Kids, Simple Solutions: How to Raise Resilient, Confident, Likable Kids.

Child Solutions.

Session 266: What is Primary Care Behavioral Pediatrics?

Session 300: Chronic Absenteeism and School Refusal.

Session 84: The Front Lines of Parenting.

Session 10: Pat Friman on BoysTown, Parenting, and More!

Session 36: Practical Parent Training Approaches.

Childhood Empowered (a must-follow parenting IG account!).

Sponsoring this episode:
CEUs from Behavioral Observations. Learn from your favorite podcast guests while you're commuting, walking the dog, or whatever else you do while listening to podcasts. New events are being added all the time, so check them out here. 
The BOP Patreon. Do you want to get the show ad-free and before everyone else? Click here to learn how!
The Behavioral Toolbox International. Check out our courses for school-based and other behavioral professionals, including our newest one, Motivational Interviewing: Getting Educator Buy-In.

In Session 331, I sat down with Dr. Ben Seifert to talk about some of the most challenging — and important — work happening in applied behavior analysis today: supporting individuals with severe problem behavior.
Ben shared his journey into the field, beginning with his early experiences at Lindamood-Bell and later at BACA under the mentorship of Carl Sundberg and others who helped shape his clinical perspective. Along the way, we discussed what originally drew him toward working with clients who many providers often avoid, and why he remains deeply committed to ensuring that all individuals have access to meaningful, compassionate support.
We spent a good amount of time talking about trends in the ABA marketplace, including the growing difficulty families face when trying to access services for older learners or individuals with significant behavioral challenges. Ben offered thoughtful commentary on how insurance systems, staffing pressures, and private equity may be influencing the types of services many organizations are willing to provide.
Ben also shared several fascinating clinical stories that highlight the importance of long-term relationship building, careful observation, and interdisciplinary collaboration. One particularly memorable discussion centered around learning to identify subtle behavioral indicators of physical discomfort that would have been easy to miss in a traditional assessment framework.
Toward the second half of the conversation, we shifted into supervision, staff training, and burnout prevention. Ben made a compelling point that supervisors should think of new staff members almost like new learners — people who require shaping, reinforcement, feedback, and support rather than immediate criticism when challenges arise. We also talked openly about clinician mental health, psychological safety within organizations, and the importance of creating environments where people can ask for help.
Finally, Ben shared advice for newly certified BCBAs, including the importance of collaboration, humility, and learning from the frontline staff who often know clients best.
This was a thoughtful and deeply practical conversation that I think clinicians, supervisors, and graduate students alike will get a lot out of.
In this episode, we discuss:
Ben's path into behavior analysis
Early mentorship experiences at BACA
His early career experiences at the Central Texas Autism Center
What led him to found Collaborate ABA
Why severe problem behavior services are becoming harder to access
Insurance and marketplace pressures affecting clinical care
The importance of interdisciplinary collaboration
Clinical case examples involving subtle behavioral indicators
Long-term relationship building with clients and families
Supervision strategies for supporting RBTs and frontline staff
Staff burnout and mental health
Advice for newly certified BCBAs
Reach out to Ben on LinkedIn, or follow Collaborate ABA in Instagram!
Sponsor shoutouts!
Behavior University. Their mission is to provide university quality professional development for the busy Behavior Analyst. Learn about their CEU offerings, including their 8-hour Supervision Course, as well as their RBT offerings over at behavioruniversity.com/observations. Don't forget to use the coupon code, PODCAST to save at checkout!
The 2026 Behavior Supports in Schools Conference. This conference is designed for the educators, administrators, and staff who support students' behavioral health, social-emotional needs, and behavioral challenges. Both in-person and online attendees will have the opportunity to network with colleagues and learn innovative, evidence-based approaches to supporting children in school settings. It's taking place in Tumwater, WA and virtually via BehaviorLive on 5/29/26. I have the honor of presenting the keynote address, and there are many other great topics that will be discussed throughout the day, so I hope to see you there!
CEUs from Behavioral Observations. Learn from your favorite podcast guests while you're commuting, walking the dog, or whatever else you do while listening to podcasts. New events are being added all the time, so check them out here. 
HRIC Recruting. Cut out the middleman and speak directly with Barbara Voss, who's been placing BCBAs in great jobs all across the US for 15 years.
The BOP Patreon. Do you want to get the show ad-free and before everyone else? Click here to learn how!