Behavior Analysis and Implicit Bias

As behavior analysts, we talk about clear, objective definitions of behaviors, with clear, consistent responses to them. Create a behavioral definition that is observable and measurable, make the behavior defined well enough that everyone will see the same thing, and make the response specific and predictable enough that it will be performed the same way, by every person, every time.

But: is this even possible to do, given what we know about implicit bias?

Implicit bias shapes both how we look, and what we see.

A Note on Accommodations, Modifications, and Learning

As a special educator, I have been having this conversation with a lot of teachers and parents lately, and have realized that it’s worth talking about more publicly.

 

I talk to a lot of people who are worried that when we put too many supports in place for a kid–especially a kid with disabilities–and modify their environment to reduce the stress on them, we make it so that eventually they will have to hit the “real world” and will fall apart. And I feel like there are a few answers to that, and that we don’t talk about it enough.

 

The short answer is: accommodations and environmental modifications are what we put in place to give someone the opportunity to learn. When there are a lot of stresses, no one can learn. So with these supports in place, the kid has the chance to improve their resilience and their confidence and their comfort. And when we put things in place, we should always be thinking about the kid’s quality of life then AND in the future, and be figuring out how to use this time to teach the skills that we all need to live in the world: distress tolerance, coping mechanisms, the ability to control your environment, the ability to let people know what you want and don’t want, the ability to figure out how you are feeling in a moment and what needs to happen as a result, resilience, flexibility.

 

AND ALSO: I think that we forget how we modify our own environments all the time, as adults with agency over our lives. So I tell this story:

 

I hate being in really crowded places where I am going to be bumped into. It is particularly hard for me. But that sometimes happens in life, right? So there are a few ways I deal with it.

• Sometimes I use my distress tolerance skills to just buckle down and grit my teeth and go through it.
• Sometimes I try to really calm myself down before and after a situation like that.
• Sometimes I try to avoid situations where that will be happening.

And the last one, to me, is really key. I will not go to Market Basket (a particularly chaotic grocery store!) on a Sunday. I can make that decision. I know that if I need to go grocery shopping and my partner isn’t around to do it, I can do it on a day that isn’t Sunday and go to Market Basket. Or I can do it on a Sunday and go to Stop and Shop, which is always eerily empty. But it’s an accommodation I can make for myself long term, and it doesn’t reduce my quality of life. And we all have things like that.

 

And then sometimes, I am having a hard time. It’s a Thursday, and work has been A Lot, and I didn’t sleep well the night before, and there’s a lot of traffic. And I was going to stop by Market Basket on the way home and grab things for dinner–but I know that it will just set me over the edge. So I can go to the desolate Stop and Shop, or I can go home and eat yogurt for dinner, or I can finally figure out how to work Instacart. But I don’t have to go to MB. And being able to make that call requires a bunch of skills–flexibility, identifying my feelings, figuring out behaviors that make sense in response to feelings, controlling my environment.

 

But those skills–i can’t learn them in the moment. I can strengthen them and USE them in the moment, but I need the space to build them beforehand. If I got dropped into Market Basket on a Sunday before I had done this work, I am not going to learn how to be okay–i’m going to avoid not only Sunday Market Basket, but probably every grocery store ever and honestly most places that aren’t my bed. Because places of stress and overwhelm aren’t learning environments, even if they are inevitable and can still be growth environments.

 

So accommodations and modifications are there to give people the space to learn skills–including the skills to figure out which ones they need to KEEP in place, and how to keep them.

 

And one last note: it’s true that we can’t avoid all stresses for kids. But, we can avoid some. And in avoiding them, we give them space to gain the skills that they need to grow. Part of planning for the future and what people will EVENTUALLY need to be able to do, is slooooowly build skills. We aren’t making kindergarteners write term papers because they will need to do it in high school. Does this mean that we need to protect kids from all stresses and difficulties? No, obviously. But, when we can, and when we are being thoughtful about helping them build skills at the same time, it isn’t doing them a disservice for life by letting them get out of things–it’s helping them be able to learn the myriad ways we, as adults, manage the things that are still really hard for us.

Why talk about behavior analysis and social justice?

The main reason that I am starting this blog and training/speaking series is that for too long, applied behavior analysis (ABA) has not primarily been used as a tool for justice. It certainly has occasionally–but we behavior analysts have a pretty rough history. Further, all sorts of approaches get called “ABA,” which often don’t hew to the actual principles and ethics we are shaped by. I want to help amplify the other voices, which have always been here, marginalized voices from both within and outside of ABA.

I have been, for years, integrating the two main lenses through which I see the world–anti-oppression and behavior analysis–in my practice and in conversations with those in my life, as well as in occasional trainings, presentations, or facilitated conversations. However, I want to have these conversations, about ABA and disability justice and neurodiversity, more broadly and intentionally. I think these conversations move both behavior analysis and social justice forward.

I am a skilled and engaging trainer who is passionate about the work I do and the subjects at hand. You can see my resume here. Contact me if you would like a training, workshop, or facilitated discussion at your organization or conference.

And finally, if you are already having these conversations, please let me know! If you aren’t but would like to, I hope this will be a place for them.