ABA Across Environments, Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, CO (2026)

At ABA Across Environments, we offer individualized behavioral intervention services to children and young adults. We were founded for families who seek to be involved in their loved one’s behavior journey, and we tailor the science of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to each client with the goals of independence and self sufficiency in mind. By using uniquely designed intervention plans, consultin

g with service providers and medical professionals, and including primary care givers in the process, we promote changes in our clients’ behaviors that lead to the best possible outcomes in every scenario. ABA Across Environments strives to help individuals achieve functional independence across every environment so that each person may experience all that life has to offer.

08/26/2022

Why? Because parenting is hard, and sometimes you just want the behavior to stop.

So, stop blaming the parents (and total strangers, school administrators, teachers, aunts and uncles, etc.) and realize that extinction is not usually possible for most. Someone is going to respond and provide attention. Someone is going to give the iPad to stop the screaming. Someone is going to remove the demand and then intermittently reinforce the behavior.

So, maybe it isn’t ALL about reinforcement. Maybe there are skills missing that need to be taught. Maybe these human being children have more going on than a pigeon pecking for food.

I’m not saying reinforcement doesn’t strengthen behavior. What I am saying is that some behavioral strategies are not realistic. And we as behavior analysts have a way of blaming others for “reinforcing the problem behavior,” when I reality we didn’t teach the replacement skills necessary.

So, stop. People are going to reinforce the problem behavior. Have you instead started to reinforce a new skill? Have you instead given alternatives to extinction? Because I’ll be honest, you’re never going to get someone else to stop reinforcing the behavior when you are not around.

08/25/2022

In fact, it sends me into a dark spiral of anger anytime I attempt to use planned ignoring when my children are freaking out.

I don’t ignore my kids. My kids belong in this family, and I want to show them that they do - even when I want to tear my hair out because they are screaming.

What do I do instead? I get close. I talk. I say “I can hear that you need me.” “Is something wrong, or do you need help?”

I give them empathy. “I would also be mad if someone said I couldn’t have some candy. Is that why you are upset?”

I offer alternatives. “We can’t have candy right now. But we can have a lollipop right after you take a bath.” Or “we can’t do that right now because we just brushed teeth, but do you want to add colored bath bombs to your bath tonight or play with my lipstick?”

I don’t ignore them. So fellow BCBAs, please stop recommending that parents ignore their children or their children’s behaviors. It is not helping. And it isn’t teaching a skill, which is why the behavior keeps happening in the first place!

08/24/2022

Functional communication is awesome! It’s a Go-To strategy. But what happens when manding isn’t the problem?

What happens when Hanley’s My way overgeneralizes? Or when the tolerance response is not quite enough? What happens when you have tipped from HRE to SHHF (that’s- S**t Has Hit the Fan)?

(Full disclosure, I LOVE Dr. Hanley and his work. So, this is in now way telling anyone not to incorporate these practices- we definitely do.)

But what do you do? You have to expand upon the Alternative behaviors you are going to reinforce. Have you taught acceptance or how to practice defusion? Have you helped the learner identify their own values and set a plan for action? Have you helped teach how to engage in the present moment and pause to reflect upon others’ perspectives?

These are all alternative behaviors. These all take really really good ABA and takes it that much further and beyond compliance training. Try it. Practice it with yourself first. Study. Learn. Immerse. Practice.

08/22/2022

Hi, it’s me. I’m not always a great supervisor. I’m not even always a GOOD supervisor. I make mistakes. I forget things. I fall short with meeting my goals. I don’t get to spend as much time as I want with each client or supervisee. I’m a human being.

We all set expectations that can’t always be met. We neglect some areas of supervision without having any I’ll intentions. We unknowingly avoid. And our unconscious biases present at the most vulnerable moments.

But that doesn’t mean that we should pretend that we are infallible. It doesn’t mean that we act as though we are amazing. Instead, seek feedback. Be honest and vulnerable enough to admit when you have made a mistake. Use honest and candid communication so that people know that it is ok to be a person with faults.

Allow for people to criticize and critique what you have done. Welcome conversations. Signal when you are unavailable and be fully present when you are with a supervisee (not on your phone or email). And then see if that changes not only how you supervise but also how you feel at the end of the day.

It might be uncomfortable at first, but that’s where change happens.

08/17/2022

To my BCBA friends: Remember this before you meet with caregivers: you are not there all the time, and you don’t know what it is like when you are not there.

That Behavior Intervention Plan is nothing without being implemented. But I have yet to work with a caregiver who said to me, “what I really need is multiple schedule to follow that tells me when I can and cannot reinforce a behavior.”

They have also never told me, “I have all the time in the world and can always follow through with extinction.”

So, before you tell a caregiver what they should do, remember that a plan made without them is an ideal and not realistic. Listen to the caregiver. Ask them, “What do you need to make your life easier?” Start there. If they can’t tell you because there is too much, don’t throw a complex behavior plan for them to follow and then follow up with a “why didn’t you follow the plan?” in the next meeting. Listen first. Plan second.

08/15/2022

Do people usually turn the tv off while you’re your favorite show? No? Then, why do we expect our kids to be ok with it?

Does your boss come in and take your phone away because she isn’t training by saying, “All done. Hand me phone.”

Does anyone make you not use your favorite coffee cup because “you should expand your interests”?

Weird.

People need time. Children need time. Children deserve to be given expectations, “You can finish watching until this part is over. And then it is time to get dressed.”

Children deserve to get to finish the activity they are in the middle of doing or at least be able to come to a natural stopping point.

Adults don’t get to say that a child’s behavior is tangibly maintained when they are just denying access for no reason, taking items without permission, or interrupting activities because “they have to learn” that life isn’t this way.

And yet, we don’t teach our children the same. We don’t teach them boundaries of time and money. Instead, we teach them “because I said so,” and wonder why our kids struggle to change their ways.

So, ask yourself if you have established a skill to teach such as time, how to recognize the signs in our bodies when we are hungry or tired, or how to prioritize what has to be finished first to allow for more time to do preferred things later.

Remember that “because I said so” is just not a good enough reason for most.

Address

Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs, CO

Website

https://abaacrossenvironments.com/

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