New Year’s Eve marks the close of our 35th year. SD Associates was birthed as a kitchen table enterprise on January 1, 1990, and oh… the places we’ve been!
The short list:
- Hundreds of our fellow humans with learning challenges have received direct teaching/learning support to acquire and master skills that will increase their agency and enrich their lives. Some of those relationships have been short, but many have endured for years. Many more have received indirect benefit through consultation and training of staff in public institutions. SD has been a presence in hundreds of classrooms from as far south as Springfield, Massachusetts north to the Canadian border.
- Hundreds of family members have received a measure of support and understanding as they grapple with the challenge of disability in the home and the hardships posed by unwieldy, and frequently inadequate, public systems.
- Hundreds of generous and compassionate people have come to work at SD to learn, and put into practice, the extraordinary understanding of human behavior and learning afforded by applied behavior analysis. Direct service professionals, licensed behavior analysts and teachers, and operations professionals (who make things work) comprise our powerful and dedicated culture. Many are still with us. Others have taken their gifts and have gone forth to enrich the world beyond our doors.
- In the public sphere, SD has contributed to many public forums regarding compassionate treatment of challenging behavior. We were instrumental in the establishment of the Vermont Association for Behavior Analysis (VtABA) and provided the “oomph” to get professional licensure for behavior analysts to the governor’s desk.
We live in unsettling times, but it’s important to remember that there’s nothing new about that. I’m in the early stretch of my eighth decade, and I cannot recall a time that was not unsettling in the public sphere. Given that constant, ABA provides us the means to slow down the onrushing noise of the world and take a granular look at what’s happening in the present moment, and all present moments. I reassure myself that focus on “now” and learning is what really matters… those moments when more trials are necessary, and then no more trials are necessary, to capture that elusive skill that took ingenuity to teach. I have also become reassured, in my longevity, that there are many significant teaching/learning moments that do not present as meaningful in the moment, but that turn out to be of lasting benefit to the learner. We are not always still around when that happens, but, be assured; it’s a real thing.
So… happy birthday SD! On we go towards another birthday…
dp