Lots of BCBAs want to help families with sleep, but they're afraid they'll make a mistake or won't know enough. They feel like they need to become sleep experts before they can say anything at all. Of course we always want to work within our scope, and there are certainly times when families need comprehensive sleep support, but there are also plenty of opportunities to support healthy sleep during your everyday ABA sessions. In fact, many of the skills we already teach have a direct impact...

As behavior analysts, we're always mindful of using reinforcement over punishment whenever possible. When it comes to spotting punishers, we usually think of the big ones, like yelling or time-out, but so many of the ways behavior can accidentally be punished are way more subtle than that. Sometimes it's just the way we talk about something, or small things in the environment, that end up being punishing without anyone even realizing it. This is definitely true for sleep, an area where kids...

We use the word anxiety all the time, but what exactly does it mean? Anxiety is an emotion characterized by feelings of tension and worry, along with physical changes like an increase in blood pressure. Anxiety isn't bad at all. If we're in a stressful situation, we want our bodies to react so we can get out of there and stay safe. The problem comes when this feeling doesn't go away and becomes chronic and overwhelming, even when there's no longer an obvious threat. A recent survey from the...