Chinese ABA

By Karina Cheung

In the previous year, the China Association for Behavior Analysis (CABA) has focused on promoting the science of behavior analysis in Mainland China by (a) providing online Applied Behavior Analysis Professional training course sequence for local therapists; (b) taking part in translating both professional and parental training books about ABA, autism, and verbal behavior; (c) supporting research on the topic of life-long intervention, and (d) organizing the seventh annual conference.

The year 2020 was a busy and tough year for CABA. On the 17th of February 2020, together with The Professional Committee of Autism CARDP, we organized a national wide free online resource for families whose children are affected by the outburst of COVID-19.

The online resources included a “What Is COVID-19?” sectionm, information on how family members could help their children with needs to understand and practices safety prevention requirements. a “What Is Autism” section, information on what should be done during this critical period to prevent problem behaviors, and information on how ABA principles should be implemented in the home setting by parents.

On the March 20, 2021, we held our sixth annual conference online. Scholars, practitioners, and interested individuals from all around the country attended. This year’s conference with support from the China Association of Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons, Peking University Sixth Hospital. We have Mr. Cao YueJin (Secretary of China Association of Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons) attend our opening ceremony.

Dr. Guo YanQing from the Peking University of Sixth Hospital gave a presentation on ABA and modern life. Dr. Zhang Dorothy Xuan from Chicago School provided a presentation on the ABA vision on eating habits. Dr. Lin FanYu gave her presentation on happiness. Dr. Li Xue shared with the audience how ABA is being used in the in-hospital setting. Dr. Zhu Jing presented on early intervention. Ms. Peng ShaSha shared her research on using backward chaining to teach classroom regulations to ASD students in the school setting. Ms. Huang JingJing shared her research on using coaching techniques on embedded instruction for kindergarten teachers. Dr. Hu Lei gave his presentation on the elements of behavior-based training.

Besides the annual conference, CABA has been participating in preparing two nation-wide guidelines: The ABA Service Guideline for Children and Behavior Analyst Certification Requirement Guideline.

Notes
CABA’s three training series are: Professional-Elite Training series (PETs), Professional-General Training series (PGTs), and Public Awareness Training series (PATs). Our PETs training focused on training ABA specialist for the special education field in mainland China, for this training, we’ve invited Chinese speaking BCBA-Ds and BCBAs to provide systematic training programs for local therapists who at least hold a bachelor’s degree and have been working in an educational setting for more than three years. PGTs programs aimed to invited qualified speakers to provide year-long training programs to both local therapists and parents. PATs training, provided by trained therapists, focused on the public awareness of how powerful ABA is, and stress the fact that the principles of ABA are not only evidence-based training programs for ASDs but also can be used in school settings as well as any settings that included human behavior.