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The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria

Autistic-Led ABA Services: Session 290 with Armando Bernal and Andy Bondy

The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria

Matt Cicoria

Science, Mental Health, Skinner, Behaviorism, Behaviorconsultant, Aba, Behavioralpsychology, Health & Fitness, Appliedbehavioranalysis, Autism, Acceptanceandcommitmenttherapy, Fba, Social Sciences, Verbalbehavior, Bcba, Functionalassessment, Discretetrial

4.8 • 648 Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2025

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Welcome to Session 290 of The Behavioral Observations Podcast. In this episode, I'm joined by Armando Bernal and Andy Bondy. Andy is a known entity both in the field, and to the audience as well, and therefore needs little in the way of introduction.

Armando is the founder of Autism International Consulting, which is the only Autistic-owned ABA provider in the Houston, TX area. He shares a truly inspiring story of how he went from not speaking at all, up through the present day, where he and his team provide ABA services.

In this show, we discuss:

  • Armando's family's response to his diagnosis. 
  • How his mother single-handedly directed his early treatment.
  • His work as a special education teacher.
  • A surprising story - to me at least - of how he first learned about ABA.
  • His work at Autism International Consulting.
  • How he and Andy began collaborating.
  • How Armando's unique perspective informs his practice.
  • Current topics in ABA, including assent and compassionate care.
  • How Armando learned to accept his diagnosis.
  • Navigating controversies in the field and the related role of social media.

Links to resources discussed:

This podcast is brought to you with the support of:

  • The Profound Autism Summit. The Profound Autism Summit is a two-day conference taking place on April 10th and 11th in Boston, MA. Following on the massive success of the 2024 Summit, the 2025 event brings together leaders from the areas of research, medicine, treatment, advocacy, and education to discuss the needs and support of those with Profound Autism across disciplines and throughout the lifespan.
  • HRIC Recruting. Cut out the middleman and speak directly with Barbara Voss, who's been placing BCBAs in great jobs all across the US for 15 years. 
  • CEUs from Behavioral Observations. Learn from your favorite podcast guests while you're commuting, walking the dog, or whatever else you do while listening to podcasts. New events are being added all the time, so check them out here. 
  • The Behavioral Toolbox. Check out our courses for school-based and other behavioral professionals, including our newest one, Motivational Interviewing: Getting Educator Buy-In.
  • The Verbal Behavior Conference. Whether you attend in-person in Austin, TX, or online via BehaviorLive, you're going to love this year's Verbal Behavior Conference! Click here to get all the details!

 

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Like Matt said, I'm a board certified behavior analyst, but this all really started for me at the age of three where I was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

0:09.4

Doctors told my mother that at the time that I might as well learn sign language because I was never going to be able to speak.

0:15.7

Hey there, everyone. I usually don't include those little teaser clips in my podcast. If you've been a long-time

0:21.4

listener, you know that's true. But that was such a poignant comment that I couldn't help

0:27.1

but to share it. All that to say, welcome to session 290 of the behavioral observations podcast. In

0:33.0

this episode, I'm joined by Armando Bernal and Andy Bondi. Andy's a known entity both in the field

0:39.3

and to the audience as well, and therefore he needs a little in the way of introduction.

0:44.6

On the other hand, Armando is the founder of Autism International Consulting, which is the only

0:48.3

autistic-owned ABA provider in the Houston, Texas area. And in this conversation, he shares a really inspiring

0:55.4

story of how he went from not speaking at all up through the present day where he and his team

1:00.7

provide ABA services. In this podcast, we talk about Armando's family's response to his diagnosis,

1:09.8

how his mother single-handedly directed his early

1:12.2

treatment, his work as a special education teacher, a surprising story to me at least of how he

1:18.8

first learned about ABA. I won't spoil that here, you're going to want to hear that.

1:22.2

The work he does at Autism International Consulting, how he and Andy Bondi began collaborating, and Andy's the one

1:29.9

who kind of pulled us all together for this conversation. We talked about Armando's unique

1:33.9

perspective and how it informs his practice. We got in some current topics in ABA, including

1:39.1

assent and compassionate care. There was a really interesting segment where Armando talked about learning to

1:45.2

accept his diagnosis. I think that's just a really, really poignant story. And we got into some

1:51.5

of the controversies in the field. We didn't dwell too much on them, but we talked about some of them

1:55.5

and the related role of social media and things like that. That's towards the end of the show.

1:59.5

So you're going to want to stick through the entire way through to hear all like that. That's towards the end of the show. So you're going to want to

...

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