Let me tell you a story...

This is my Story

Hi there! Thanks for dropping by! My name is Matt, and I am the host and creator of this podcast, the Behaviorist Book Club. Read on below to see the origin of the podcast, and learn a little about me! I went to undergraduate at the University of Florida, where I got a degree in Psychology and a specialization in behavior analysis. Throughout my time, I worked at a local ABA clinic in Gainesville, and gained a real love for the population of developmental disabilities and our science. I then took the leap, with my new wife, and moved up to Baltimore, Maryland to work at the Kennedy Krieger Institute and get my Masters at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. I was able to work both with severe problem behavior and feeding disorders. In a fun series of events I moved back down to Florida and became a BCBA, and then the Clinic Manager at the same company I worked at as an RBT. I always valued my training as a practitioner up at Kennedy, but what I really learned was how to use and learn about this amazing science we have at our disposal. It was that passion that prompted me to launch this podcast in the first place…

The Start

This podcast was actually first launched in 2020, when I was still in graduate school. It was a passion project from the beginning, and back then, all I wanted to do was encourage people to read the old texts of behaviorism. Science and Human Behavior, Verbal Behavior, even Waldo 2 were all books that I wanted to cover. I believed then (and still do now) that the next great discovery in Applied Behavior Analysis was going to come from analyzing and learning from our past. However, only 5 episodes in, life got crazy (baby + grad school + wife) and I had to prioritize graduation. 

The Resurgence

Once I began to get settled into the field as a BCBA, I realized I had a big problem. I had NO TIME to stay current with research! I was in this endless cycle of looking through recent publications, downloading some into my “to read” file, and then never getting to it. As the folder got bigger and bigger, I realized there had to be a better way. I wanted quick, consumable, practitioner focused breakdowns of research, with a focus on how I could apply what I read into day to day life. At that time, I was also in the midst of starting up a journal and book club at work, and I realized how valuable a community discussion about research could be. So, I restarted the podcast and launched the series, JABA in one take, in which I break down every current publication in JABA. 

The Future

What is the best part of a book club? To me, it is the community of like-minded individuals bringing their diverse perspectives to the conversation. I would love to see the Behaviorist Book Club grow into a community based production where the listeners participate, comment, and even join the podcast to discuss literature with me! I also want to launch more series, like One Less Lonely Practitioner, and interview BCBAs about their job, livelihood, and what it is like to be a BCBA in their place of work. Overall, I would love to see the practitioner community unite together, discuss and stay on top of current research, and really make a difference in all of the communities we serve!