Focus Surrey trustees have given their input into the consumer experience of ABA to the UK Society for Behaviour Analysis.
Focus Surrey Trustees, June Goh and Sue Archdall, attended the AGM for the UK Society for Behaviour Analysis held on 21st January 2021. The AGM, which was held virtually, recognised the significant achievements of the UK-SBA in the past year, including the development of a Professional Register of Behaviour Analysts in the UK.
June and Sue are both part of the UK-SBA Advisory Board, which provides a voice for consumers of ABA. ABA Access 4 all super mum Jane McCready was the first chair of the Advisory Board. The Chair of the Advisory Board, which is currently Tracey Linehan (CEO of Beyond Autism), also sits on the board of the UK-SBA.
Sue Archdall co-founded Focus Surrey Saturday club in May 2016. She is its Chairperson and Operations Manager ensuring the club runs smoothly each Saturday. Sue started ABA with her daughter in April 2014, she saw immediate results and became an instant advocate for ABA. Having attended Focus South London in 2015 and having previously worked as a programme manager for graduate trainees and as a journalist Sue knew she had the skills to up a similar club to benefit families in Surrey and the wider area.
Trustee June Goh is experienced and trained in SEND advocacy and is a volunteer at SOS!SEN, a SEND charity based in Richmond. Her role involves advising parents and carers at their Advice Centres and Helplines, drafting documents for appeals or attending mediations and meetings with them. She has been giving legal advice to parents with SEN for more than 10 years. June is also a parent-carer of a young adult son with autism who has been in a specialist ABA placement since he was 6 years old.
Both June and Sue are pleased that the voice of consumers of ABA is being listened to, so that ABA professionals are aware of the risks of poor ABA and can work to rectify them. The Advisory Board has developed a risk matrix which it shares with the UK-SBA to identify the risks of substandard or unregulated ABA. This was the first AGM of the UK-SBA that Sue had attended and she was pleased to hear of their many achievements over the past year. Sue was also proud to share the views and experiences of many Focus Surrey parents who provided their feedback on their ABA journeys.
Achievements of the UK-SBA in the past year include:
Developing the new Website
Completing and Submitting Professional Standards Authority Application for accreditation of the register
Approval of request to BACB for extension of certification process for UK applicants
Issuing Statement on Racial Equality
Hosting Training Events
Continuing to advertise the Special Interest Groups (SIG) facility.
Awarded our sixth Student Award winner
Launching our seventh Student Awards
Launching the UK-SBA Job Board
Launching the UK-SBA Membership Badge
Continuing with the Free Quarterly Student Draw
Maintaining active presence on Facebook
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