Closing Keynote Speaker
Jose Rios, MS, BCBA
Jose D. Rios, BCBA, has over 50 years of experience supporting individuals with developmental disabilities. A former
owner of three group homes for children
and adults with autism and IDD, he has
also worked with hundreds of families and
professionals. Jose has served two terms
as President of CalABA, co-founded the
Latino Association for Behavior Analysis
(LABA) and has served on the boards of
WBADA, AAIDD, CalABA, the Santa
Barbara Rape Crisis Center, and APBA.
Jose developed a unique, intense
mentorship program called LABA
FastTrack, and now focuses on consulting
with agencies serving adults with severe
problem behavior.
In addition to an incalculable number of lectures, presentations, inservice
trainings, workshops, and webinars, Jose has delivered nearly 100 state
and national conference presentations nationwide on a variety of topics
such as ethics, behavior plans, mentorship, traumatic brain injury, case
formulation, and the treatment of self-injurious behavior.
Excellence with Heart: The Weight of Competence and Compassion
This presentation explores how ethics, competence, and compassion work
together in ABA practice to ensure responsible, effective, and dignified
support for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The first half of this presentation explores why staying within one’s scope
of competence includes being honest and transparent about one's clinical
and professional boundaries. The second half will focus on practicing with
integrity and compassion and how we should practice ABA, not for
recognition or material reward, but because it is the right and noble thing
to do. Together, these perspectives show that competence and
compassion should be seen as inseparable and foundational principles for
all behavioral clinicians.