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Every year, the UW ABA program invites a scholar from another university or part of the country who we believe is doing exciting or thought-provoking work in Applied Behavior Analysis to come visit our program. The scholar meets with faculty, talks with students, and showcases their own scholarly work through a presentation to both students and BCBAs from the broader Puget Sound community.

Shahla Alai-Rosales, PHD, BCBA-D, CPBA-AP

Date: Saturday, April 5th, 2025

Time: 9:30am-12:30pm

Location: Foege Auditorium UW Seattle Campus & Zoom

Three BACB CEUs available: $40

Shahla Alai-Rosales, PHD, BCBA-D, CPBA-AP is a Professor in the Department of Behavior Analysis at the University of North Texas. She has taught courses in Texas, Europe and the Middle East on a variety of topics, including ethics, early autism intervention, parent training, behavioral systems, applied research methods, technology transfer, behavior change techniques, and cultural diversity. Shahla has published and presented research on social justice, ethics in early intervention, play and social skills, family harmony, and supervision and mentoring. Shahla has more than four decades of experience working with families and has trained hundreds of behavior analysts. She has received awards for her teaching (SGA ‘Fessor Graham Award), her work with families (Onassis Scholar Award), and for her sustained contributions (UNT Community Engagement Award, TXABA Career Contributions Award, the GSU Lutzker Distinguished Lecturer, the ABAI Donald M. Baer Distinguished Lecture, and the 23-24 University of Kansas ABS Outstanding Alumni Award). She was a member of the Behavior Analysis Certification Board, the ABAI Practice Board, the ABAI DEI Board and an Associate Editor for Behavior Analysis in Practice. She currently serves on the board of directors for APBA and the advisory board for ASAI. Shahla is co-author of Building and Sustaining Meaningful and Effective Relationships as a Supervisor and Mentor (LeBlanc, Sellers & Alai, 2020) and Responsible and Responsive Parenting in Autism: Between Now and Dreams (Alai-Rosales & Heinkel-Wolfe, 2022). Shahla lives in Denton Texas and is honored to be a mother and grandmother to three amazing humans!

Presentation: Context, Culture & Collaboration: Supporting the Well-being of Young Autism Families in Behavior Analytic Practice

Tremendous strides have been made in how a family is positioned in supporting autistic children. Parents have gone from being blamed, marginalized and excluded from therapeutic and educational involvement to being welcomed, centered and included. The purpose of this presentation is to provide a context for parenting in autism, with a focus on family ecology, quality of life, current research, and culture. The presentation also explores some eternal and contemporary parenting concerns and how these relate to autistic children and to the applied behavior analyst. Finally, suggestions are made for how to engage in productive collaborations that decenter alienation and stigma and center collaborative learning in the context of valued family well-being and neurodiversity, relationship development, and love.

Previous visiting scholars

2024: Michele D. Wallace, Ph.D., BCBA-D

Dr. Michele Wallace earned her doctorate from the University of Florida in 2000 in the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. She is a Full Professor, the Master of Science in Counseling Option in Applied Behavior Analysis Program Coordinator, and the Program Coordinator and Coach for the Success Program in the Early Entrance Program at California State University, Los Angeles.

Presentation: Roots to Revolution: Exploring the Legacy of Functional Analysis Methodology and Its Exciting Future!

2023: Malika Pritchett, Phd, BCBA, LBA

Dr. Malika Pritchett is an Assistant Professor of Practice in the Department of Applied Behavioral Science at the University of Kansas. Dr. Pritchett utilizes a behavioral systems science approach, such as ecobehavioral analyses and interventions, to inform collaborative policies, strategies, and research practices that are interwoven with a commitment to social justice, including racial justice.

Presentation: Behavior Analysis & Equity in Public Education: An Abolitionist Approach

2022: Lynn Koegel, Ph.D.

Dr. Lynn Koegel is a Clinical Professor at the Stanford School of Medicine. She has been active in the development of programs to improve communication in children with autism, including the development of first words, grammatical structures, pragmatics, and social conversation.  In addition to her published books and articles in the area of communication and language development, she has developed and published procedures and field manuals in the area of first words, initiations, self-management and functional analysis that are used in school districts and by parents throughout the United States, as well as translated in other major languages.  Dr. Lynn Koegel is the author of Overcoming Autism and Growing Up on the Spectrum with parent Claire LaZebnik, published by Viking/Penguin and available in most bookstores. Lynn Koegel and her husband, Robert, are the developers of Pivotal Response Treatment which focuses on motivation. The Koegels have been the recipients of many awards, including the first annual Children’s Television Workshop Sesame Street Award for “Brightening the Lives of Children”, the first annual Autism Speaks award for “Science and Research”, and the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) award for Enduring Programmatic Contributions in Behavior Analysis.  Dr. Lynn Koegel appeared on ABC’s hit show “Supernanny” working with a child with autism. Their work has also been showcased on ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, and the Discovery Channel.

Presentation: The Research, The Application, and the Future

2021: Anthony Biglan, Ph.D.

Anthony Biglan Ph.D. is a Senior Scientist at Oregon Research Institute and President of Values to Action. His book, The Nurture Effect: How the science of human behavior can improve our lives and our world, describes how behavioral science research has brought us to the point where it is possible to evolve a society in which virtually every person is living a productive life in caring relationships with others. His new book, Rebooting Capitalism: How we can forge a society that works for everyone, explains how we evolved a form of capitalism over the last 50 years that has impoverished millions of Americans, undermined the regulation of harmful business practices, and corrupted most of the major sectors of society. The book provides a roadmap for how we can evolve a more nurturing form of capitalism. Dr. Biglan created Values to Action to advance the reforms called for in Rebooting Capitalism. Values to Actions is inviting behavioral scientists to join the organization and to participate in Action Circles that are working on reforms.

Presentation: The Critical Role of Nurturance in Society

2020: Tyra Sellers, J.D., Ph.D., BCBA-D

Tyra P. Sellers, JD, PhD, BCBA-D is the Director of Ethics at the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. She earned a B.A. in Philosophy and M.A. in Special Education from San Francisco State University, a J.D. from the University of San Francisco, and a Ph.D. from Utah State University. Her professional and research interests focus on professional ethics, training and supervision, assessment and treatment of severe problem behavior, variability, and verbal behavior. Dr. Sellers has over 20 years of clinical experience working with individuals with disabilities in a wide variety of settings. Tyra has served as a board member in various positions, for the Utah Association of Behavior Analysis. She currently serves as an associate editor for two journals and is on the editorial board for a third.

Presentation: Supervision: Strategies for Incorporating Ethics Content and Problem Solving

2019 Elizabeth Fong, M.A., BCBA

Ms. Hughes Fong has over a decade of experience in the fields of behavioral health, education and management. Her educational background is in clinical and counseling psychology and applied behavior analysis. She is currently a PhD candidate studying Clinical Psychology with a concentration in Forensic Psychology at Fielding Graduate University.

In 2011, Ms. Hughes Fong founded the Multicultural Alliance of Behavior Analysts (MultiABA) which is a special interest group of the Association of Behavior Analysis International (ABAI). She is also the founder of Diversity in Behavior Analysis, a section in Behavior Analysis Research and Practice, and serves as an Associate Editor for the journal. This section focuses on the diverse application of behavior analysis. Ms. Hughes Fong serves on the Executive Committee for the American Psychological Association's (APA) Division 35 as the website coordinator. She has been an invited reviewer for Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice, and the National Multicultural Conference and Summit. She is also a "Distinguished Scholar" with the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies, and a member of the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) Diversity, Respect, and Inclusion Task Force. Her primary areas of interest are in the application of ABA to multicultural populations, telehealth, social validity, health and behavior analysis, and examining child custody and parental competency when a child has developmental disabilities.

Presentation: Diversity and Multiculturalism in the Field of Behavior Analysis

2018 Joseph Lucyshyn, Ph.D., BCBA-D

Joseph Lucyshyn is an Associate Professor and BCBA-D in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia. Dr.Lucyshyn has extensive experience working in collaboration with families and professionals to develop and implement behavior support plans in home and community settings for children with autism and other developmental disabilities who engage in severe problem behavior. He has authored publications in peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Child and Family Studies, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, and Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions. Between 2004 and 2010, he served as Principal Investigator of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded longitudinal study entitled Transforming Coercive Processes in Family Routines. His current research focuses on designing and implementing culturally responsive, FC-PBS services with families of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Presentation: Building Survivable Behavioral Interventions in Family Contexts: Addressing Issues of Effectiveness, Contextual/Cultural fit, and Ethics in Behavior Support

2017 Matthew Brodhead, Ph.D., BCBA-D

Matthew T. Brodhead is an assistant professor at Michigan State University and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst-Doctoral. His research examines behavioral determinants of response variability, choice, and independent social skills in children with autism. He also writes about conceptual issues relating to the ethical and professional behavior of practicing behavior analysts. He is on the editorial boards of The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, Behavior and Philosophy, the Review Journal ofAutism and Developmental Disorders, and the Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities. Through workshops and consultation, he has established multiple school-based programs for children with autism, and he has provided training to teachers, related service providers, and behavior analysts both nationally and internationally.

Presentation: A Behavioral Systems Approach to Ethics Training and Supervision

2016: Samuel Odom, Ph.D.

Samuel L. Odom, PhD, is Director of the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute and Professor in the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Education. He is the author or co-author of over one hundred publications and editor or co-editor of eleven books on early childhood intervention and developmental disabilities. His research has addressed topics related to early childhood inclusion and preschool readiness although most of his current research focuses on autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Dr. Odom was a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Educational Programs for Young Children with Autism, which published a report on effective educational programs for young children with ASD. He also was a member of the committee that developed the 10-Year Roadmap for Autism Research coordinated by the National Institute of Mental Health and the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee. His recent research articles have addressed the efficacy of a variety of focused intervention approaches (e.g., peer-mediated interventions, sibling- mediated interventions, parent-mediated approach to promote children’s joint attention, independent work systems approach to promote learning) for children with ASD. Dr. Odom is the Principal Investigator of the National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders, the ASD Toddler Initiative: Promoting the Use of Evidence-based Practices for Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorders, and the Center on Secondary Education for Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders.

In 2007, Dr. Odom received the Special Education Research Award from the Council for Exceptional Children, and in 2011, he received the Distinguished Graduate Award from the ���ߺ��� ���ߺ���. He also received the 2013 Arnold Lucius Gesell Prize from the Theodor Hellbrugge Foundation. In September 2016, Dr. Odom was awarded an honorary doctorate from Stockholm University.

Presentation: Autism and High School

2015: Kevin Ayres, Ph.D., BCBA-D

Kevin M. Ayres is a former middle school teacher for students with moderate to severe autism and intellectual disability. He earned his Ph.D. from The University of Georgia in 2005 where he is currently an associate professor. His research focuses primarily on behavioral application of technology to support instruction and independence of individuals with intellectual disability and/or autism. The Institute of Education Sciences has funded part of this work related to development of mobile technology supports for teaching adaptive skills. In his role at UGA he directs the Board Certification in Applied Behavior Analysis program as well as the Applied Behavior Analysis Support Clinic on campus that serves the Athens community. He also directs an Office of Special Education training project to prepare educators as behavior analysts to work in school system. He is currently a co-editor of Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities.

Presentation: A Behavioral Analysis of Functional Curriculum and Transferring Stimulus Control