The practice of behavior analysis has become a booming industry with growth to over 30,000 Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) who primarily work with children with autism and their families. Most of these BCBAs are relatively novice and have likely been trained in graduate programs that focus primarily on conceptual and technical skills. Successfully working with families of children with autism, however, requires critical interpersonal skills, as well as technical skills. As practitioners strive to respond efficiently and compassionately to distressed families of children with autism, technical skills must be balanced with fluency in relationship-building skills that strengthen the commitment to treatment. The current article provides an outline of important therapeutic relationship skills that should inform the repertoire of any practicing behavior analyst, strategies to cultivate and enhance those skills, and discussion of the potential effects of relationship variables on treatment outcomes.

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As in other disciplines, women were underrepresented in behavior analysis in its early decades. Over the years, multiple articles have documented increasing trends in women's representation in behavior analysis in areas such as contributions to the scholarly literature and participation in professional associations. The purpose of the present article was to extend this line of investigation by more comprehensively evaluating the participation of women in behavior analysis in a variety of areas and by analyzing participation by age cohort and career point to detect progress that might be masked by overall patterns. Our data indicate that substantial progress has been made in the participation of women in our discipline.

The high demand for ABA services has resulted in the rapid growth in the number of credentialed practitioners around the world in recent years. Key Points • • Applied behavior analysis has been demonstrated as a highly successful treatment approach in a variety of areas, including autism, substance abuse treatment, gerontology, brain injury rehabilitation, and occupational safety, among others. • • In less than two decades, the BACB has credentialed more than 50,000 behavior analysts and behavior technicians in more than 70 countries, and there are no indications of a slowdown in growth trends. • • In less than a decade, half of U.S. states have passed laws to regulate practicing behavior analysts. • • Most U.S. licensure laws rely on the BACB's credentials or standards, which reduces costs to states and facilitates practitioner mobility across state lines.