Helping students with learning disabilities succeed in school and modeling effective communication skills are just two examples of how applied behavioral analysis improves lives.

Since launching almost nine years ago, the Master of Science in applied behavioral analysis program (MS ABA) in the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University has seen much success. MS ABA faculty and students recently attended the Four Corners Association for Behavior Analysis conference and came home laden with recognitions.

The Four Corners ABA is a regional association composed of board-certified behavioral analysts and students in training to become behavioral analysts from Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. The association hosts a conference each year that focuses on sharing knowledge between faculty, students and practitioners.

Lorraine Becerra, a clinical assistant professor at ASU, was elected to the Four Corners ABA Board of Directors for a three-year term. Candidates for the board must have a faculty position in an applied behavioral analysis program or work as a clinician. They are nominated by members of the association and elected by popular vote.

“It is important that our program has a voice in this organization because our MS ABA students at ASU are very dynamic and are interested in learning how to expand the reach of applied behavioral analysis,” Becerra said. “With my position on the board of directors, I am looking forward to bringing attention to some nontraditional areas of behavioral analysis, such as organization structure and social justice.”

This year’s Four Corners ABA conference was the first time presenting a research poster for ASU student Kerri Hohn. They won best poster presentation for the research conducted for their capstone project. Hohn’s project examined the effect of different ways of giving and receiving feedback in a workplace environment.

“By presenting my work at this conference, I learned that the goal of research is not perfection — it is to collaborate with others who are also passionate about expanding the outskirts of knowledge,” they said.

The results of Hohn’s capstone project highlighted the importance of building a culture of regular feedback and how it can positively impact how people respond to and feel about feedback. The findings also built upon previous research, showing the impacts of giving and receiving feedback in different ways.

“I came to ASU because the course structure was well designed to prepare students for the BCBA exam. Once I started the program, I understood why the program also has a high pass rate for the exam — the faculty are all-stars in the field who have a wide array of experiences they share with us,” Hohn said.