ACT and Applied Behavior Analysis

Quickly master a proven-effective behavior therapy that will allow you to expand the effectiveness of your practice.

As a board-certified behavior analyst (BCBA), you work with a wide range of clients, particularly those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Some of these clients may not be verbal at all on one end of the spectrum, while some may have very advanced language skills on the other. For these clients and their families, you need a flexible and adaptable therapeutic framework to ensure the best behavior outcomes. Drawn from relational frame theory (RFT)—the psychological theory of human language—acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) can help.

With this definitive professional manual, you’ll learn to conceptualize your cases using ACT, create your own exercises, generate metaphors, be present with the unique individual learner in front of you, and practice the core ACT skills flexibly to ensure better behavior outcomes for clients and their families. You’ll find an overview of the theoretical connections between behavior analysis, RFT, and ACT, as well as the core act skills, including present-moment awareness, flexible perspective taking, committed action, and values work. Finally, you’ll find information on cultural competency and diversity to help you service a wide range of clients.

If you’re like many BCBAs, you need specialized resources when working with linguistically sophisticated clients, as well as their parents and caregivers. Let this book be your comprehensive guide to incorporating ACT into your work.

Thomas G. Szabo, PhD, BCBA-D, is a professor at Capella University’s master’s and doctoral behavior analysis programs; an internationally recognized acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) trainer; a practicing board-certified behavior analyst (BCBA); and a graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno—where he studied under W. Larry Williams and Steven C. Hayes.

Over the last decade, Szabo has focused his practice on teaching people ways to ignite behavioral and psychological flexibility in their personal lives and with others in clinical practice, schools, boardrooms, shop floors, and community centers. He is particularly interested in teaching people ways to use the psychological flexibility model to partner with autistic individuals and their families in the design and implementation of support strategies. With the Commit and Act Foundation in Sierra Leone West Africa, Szabo has trained therapists and couples to partner with kindness, and researched ways to reduce intrafamilial violence. With his students, Szabo investigates ACT training and applied relational frame theory (RFT). He has published empirical and conceptual papers, as well as several book chapters.

Foreword writer Jonathan Tarbox, PhD, BCBA-D, is director of the master of science in applied behavior analysis program at the University of Southern California, as well as director of research at FirstSteps for Kids. He has published four books on autism treatment; is series editor of the Elsevier book series, Critical Specialties in Treating Autism and Other Behavioral Challenges; and has authored more than seventy peer-reviewed journal articles and chapters in scientific texts.