Episode 337 - ABA and Down Syndrome w. Dr. Kathleen Feeley

ABA Inside Track

Robert Parry-Cruwys

Social Sciences, Science, Education

4.7 • 634 Ratings

🗓️ 11 March 2026

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As the insurance landscape for ABA services continues to open up new avenues for families to search for the best evidence-based treatments (way to go MA!), BCBAs may find themselves unwittingly practicing outside of their scope of competence. Case in point: Working with clients with Down syndrome. So, rather than fall back on the "behavior analytic principles are true for all organisms" excuse, why not dive into the research on ABA and Down syndrome by listening to this week's episode. And, if that's not enough for you, how about hearing directly from Dr. Kathleen Feeley who has been supporting learners with Down syndrome with ABA methods for years. Nothing feels better than building one's competence in a new area!

This episode is available for 1.0 DUAL-DIAGNOSIS (QABA)/1.0 LEARNING (BACB) CEU.

Articles discussed this episode:

Feeley, K.M. & Jones, E.A. (2006). Addressing challenging behaviour in children with Down syndrome: The use of applied behaviour analysis for assessment and intervention. Down Syndrome Research and Practice, 11, 64-77. doi: 10.3104/perspectives.316

Feeley, K. & Jones, E. (2008). Strategies to address challenging behaviour in young children with Down syndrome. Down Syndrome Research and Practice, 12, 153-163. doi: 10.3104/case-studies.2008

Feeley, K.M., Jones, E.A., Blackburn, C., & Bauer, S. (2011). Advancing imitation and requesting skills in toddlers with Down syndrome. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 32, 2415-2430. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2011.07.018

If you're interested in ordering CEs for listening to this episode, click here to go to the store page. You'll need to enter your name, BCBA #, the two episode secret code words, and answers to the knowledge check questions to complete the purchase. Email us at abainsidetrack@gmail.com for further assistance.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, everybody. Welcome to ABA Inside Track the podcast that's like reading in your car, but safer.
0:19.6	I'm your host, Robert Perry Cruz, and with me as always are my fabulous co-hosts.
0:24.2	Oh, hey there, Rob. It's me, Jackie McDonald, not Perry Cruz.
0:29.1	Hi, and it's me, Diana.
0:31.0	Perry Cruz.
0:32.0	Oh, thank you.
0:33.1	How are you, Rob?
0:34.0	I'm doing fine. Oh, do you have a segue to start us up?
0:36.6	No, well, only that Jackie and I have been walking down memory lane reading past transcripts. And we used to ask each other how we were. That's true. We never do that anymore. We never just talk anymore. We don't talk. We don't just talk. We don't just like sit and talk. Okay, so how are you guys? How are you all? Sorry. Fine. How are you? You know, we've got some ice dam issues, so it's pretty cold. How about you, Jack? How are you? You know, I am doing better than you all since I don't have a hole in my ceiling, so I'm winning over here.
1:12.1	That's good.
1:12.6	Yep.
1:13.0	That is good.
1:13.9	Totes.
1:27.9	But guess what? We're not alone today. No. We have a guest. We do have a guest. I love that. We're not alone today. Before we introduce the guest, we should make sure everyone knows this is not a home improvement podcast because that's the last you hear about the ceiling. It's a podcast about behavior analysis and behavior analytic research where every week we pick a topic and discuss it
1:34.2	at length. And I don't believe we have like Bob Vila on the line to talk about home improvement.
1:39.0	We're talking about a much more relevant to our field topic, which is what we like to do here.
1:45.2	And that is Down syndrome and ADA.
1:48.2	And to do that, we have a very special guest who's written and practiced on the subject.
1:53.1	Dr. Kathleen, thank you so much for coming on the show today.
1:57.7	You're welcome.
1:58.4	Thank you for having me.
2:00.0	So question number one, what do I do with this hole in my roof?
	...

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