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Yesterday, today, and tomorrow: Looking back at a year of growth and forward to our new century.

2001; American Psychological Association; Volume: 2; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1037/h0099934

1539-4352

Joseph Cautilli, Beth Rosenwasser,

Behavioral and Psychological Studies

Two years ago, the authors were invited as panelists to Delaware Valley Association for Behavior Analysis (DVABA) to speak about the new Pennsylvania Certification for Behavior Analysts. At the time, we greeted the process with the belief vaguely reminiscent of Kevin Kostner's film Field of Dreams: a profession and they will come! The time has come to look back and reflect on the changes that have come about in Pennsylvania and possible changes in the future. We believe that our accomplishments are reflective of how all analysts in Pennsylvania have worked to create usage in Pennsylvania. Indeed, analysts who point to Pennsylvania as a model for the profession should remember the following people who have been instrumental. Saul Axelrod, mentor and friend to both authors, has for years (the cold years, when analysis was harshly dismissed) advocated for analysis, and in conjunction with Philip Hineline was able to start the state's first master's program in Applied Behavior Analysis at Temple University. Fran Warkomski, Director, Bureau of Special Education (BSE) Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), was critical in beginning our state's program for certification of analysts. This had been identified as a critical need in providing quality services to children with autism (see Warkomski, 2000). Richard Foxx took the lead to build the Pennsylvania Association for Behavior Analysis (PennABA) and with the help of its officers (Rick Kubina, Kimberly Schreck, Beth Rosenwasser, and Richard Weissman) organized the first annual Pennsylvania Conference on Behavior Analysis in March of 2001. Michael Weinberg and Patrick Progar consecutively led the local chapter of Delaware Valley ABA (DVABA) that provides regular business/educational/social meetings for analysts in the Delaware Valley. Penn State University has also been instrumental, first with its creation of a certification program for analysts, then with its master's program in analysis (more details on their program in this issue). Finally, the editorial staff and interns for the Behavior Analyst Today (BAT) have shown commitment and dedication in bringing these issues home to readers. In particular, the authors would like to recognize our associate editor, Maggie Hancock, who has often put aside her own writing to dedicate time to helping other authors. CREATING USE In spite of early entry into the field (Cautilli & Skinner, 1996), many analysts were weary of Pennsylvania's Behavioral Health Rehabilitation programs for Children and Adolescents, with good reasons. The first was that many of the programs were poorly designed (Cautilli, Rosenwasser, & Clarke, 2000). The second was that limited staff and high rates of reimbursement had allowed for many unqualified people to find their way into performing specialist work (Cautilli & Rosenwasser, 2001). The third was the general lack of knowledge of behavior specialists in designing treatment plans, setting goals for clients, consulting to teachers, and training parents. In short this was a good place for analysts to be; however, analysis was still having difficulty with disseminating its findings (see Cautilli, Rosenwasser, & Skinner, 1996) In the last year, we have advocated heavily for analysts and supported them to move into key administrative positions to use their knowledge of organizational management (OBM). OBM can be used to train staff (Cautilli & Rosenwasser, 2001) and operationally build behavioral health rehabilitation programs (Cautilli & Clarke, 2000; Hancock, Cautilli, Rosenwasser, & Clarke, 2000; Thomas & Cautilli, 2000). In an effort to disseminate, we have presented at local and international conferences on the use of organizational management to improve these areas (e.g., Cautilli & Clarke, 2001; Cautilli, Clarke, & Weinberg, 2001; Cautilli, Henry, & Santilli-Connor, 2000; Cautilli, Henry, & Weinberg, 2001). …