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The newsletterWell, Behaved
Real strategy, no jargon, every other week. It is written by one behavior analyst rather than assembled by a content team, which is why it is short and why it is opinionated.
It comes in two lanes, and they are genuinely different. Both cover why behavior happens and what to do about it. One skips the jargon, the other assumes it, so the form below asks which one rather than guessing.
Where are you using this?
Free. Pick either, and reply if it turns out to be the wrong one. If you do not pick, I will start you in everyday life rather than leave you waiting. Unsubscribe anytime.
Two lanes, and what is in each
Why behavior happens, in plain language
No acronyms, nothing you need a degree to use, and never a promise that any of it will fix anybody. The examples move around on purpose. Sometimes a six year old, sometimes a teenager, sometimes an adult in a day program, sometimes your own inbox. Each one gives you a single thing to change this week.
- So, what is ABA actually? Beginning with what it is not.
- What is the behavior asking for? Function, and the only four answers.
- The fix that happens before anything goes wrong. Antecedents.
- Every time, then most times. Why rewards stop working, and how to thin them on purpose.
- Your plan is probably too big. Shaping, and halving the target.
The parts of the work nobody trained you on
Caregiver training, fidelity, and the awkward parts of a session that the coursework skips. Written for someone who already knows the terms.
- The step everyone skips. The four BST steps, and why rehearsal is the one that gets cut.
- Three of the four are about the plan. Adherence as a design problem, not a compliance one.
- Train to criterion, not to the end of the hour. The stop rule, and why three at 90 percent.
- It fell apart in two weeks. That is not failure. Fidelity decay and the two week check.
- One procedure. Not six. Scoping the training itself.
Judge it before you subscribe
Two real extracts, one from each track. Nothing here is a teaser for something paid.
The step everyone skips
Behavioral skills training is four steps. Instruct, model, rehearse, feedback.
Almost every caregiver training package sold is the first one and nothing else. A written plan, talked through carefully, handed over. And on its own that produces poor implementation, which is not a controversial claim.
The one that carries the effect is rehearsal. They do it while you watch. It is also the one that gets cut first when a session runs long, and I do not think that is really about time.
Asking an adult to act something out in front of a professional is uncomfortable for about four seconds, and both of you can feel it. So one of you finds a reason to move on. Usually you.
Next time somebody will not role-play, do not persuade them. Go first, and do it badly. Perform the version most people actually do.
You have just made being bad at this the normal thing in the room. That is most of the job, and it works far more often than insisting does.
That is roughly half of it. The rest is about knowing when to stop.
Why the sticker chart stopped working
Here is something I hear almost every week.
“We tried a sticker chart. It worked great for about two weeks and then he stopped caring.”
That is not a discipline problem and it is not you doing it wrong. There is an actual mechanism behind it, and once you can see it you can fix it.
A reward is only a reinforcer if the behavior actually goes up.
That sounds like a technicality but it is the whole thing. Something earns the name reinforcer because of what it does to behavior, not because we think it should be motivating. So if the stickers stopped working, the stickers stopped being a reinforcer. That is information, not failure.
They got their fill of it. It was never the reinforcer to begin with. Or the delay got too long, and a reward on Friday for something that happened on Monday is a very weak connection for a young kid.
The rest of it is what to do instead, which takes about four minutes to read.
What you are actually agreeing to
- One email every other week, from a real person, with a reply address that reaches me
- If you do not tell me which lane you want, I will start you in everyday life and move you the moment you say otherwise
- No selling in most of them. Two of the five in each run ask for anything at all
- A one click unsubscribe on every single send, which I would rather you used than that you stopped opening
Written by Camille M. Galanis, a behavior analyst in New York practicing under a graduate permit and LBA supervision. Everything here is educational material, not clinical advice or individualized treatment.
Not sure yet?
Run the free Behavior Decoder instead. It takes about three minutes, it tells you what a behavior is producing, and the newsletter comes with it.
That is the everyday-life route. If you work with behavior professionally, the newsletter above is the better door.
Educational content, not clinical advice. For personalized support, consult a licensed professional. If someone is in immediate danger, call 911. For a mental health crisis, call or text 988.