11/15/13

One of the best experiences I’ve had this semester was attending the first annual Iowa Association for Behavior Analysis (IABA) conference. Todd Knealing, Corey Stocco, my classmate Katie Gill, and I attended the conference as a group. Josh Cobbs, head of the Pier Center, and his wife Tina, another student in the MAE ABA track program also attended the conference. The BCU crew drove down the night before and had dinner as a group at Proof, a new restaurant in Des Moines. 

The drive and dinner were very insightful experiences. Being confined in the tiny space of the BCU company car gave all of us a unique opportunity to get to know each other on a more personal level.  Katie earned her nick-name of “Tour guide Katie” since she explained all of the nuances of driving in Iowa (like how gas stations are advertised when they are miles from the exit!)  and we all learned about the mean streets of Minneapolis from Corey. Dinner was very good. Proof had a distinctive Greek/ Mediterranean menu (different from foods you’d find in Sioux City) and the stories from the car continued.  Between personal accounts of conferences past and even some professional experiences, we developed more personalized relationships as professors and graduate students.

Four speakers presented on a variety of behavior analytic topics. Dr. Travis Thompson presented on managing anxiety. Dr. David Wacker focused on how to train school personnel in functional analysis assessments. Nicole Gravina discussed the role of behavior analysis in the business world. Dr. Pamela Niedert presented data on her and her colleagues’ paper on the Assessment and Treatment of feeding problems in pre-school aged children.

Overall, the conference was enlightening. It was also an excellent professional opportunity and gave me insights into the field I might have missed if I didn’t go.