Posts in Children
That Thing You Doula (Interview with Dr. Ashley Greenwald

Doulas and midwives aren't necessarily the crunchy granola hippies you might think they are. They also don't need to be female. We invited expert and certified doula Dr. Ashley Greenwald to talk to us about what doulas are and why every person preparing to a birth should have a doula around.

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Genital Reveal Parties

We are cataloguing the strange, modern custom of intentionally/unintentionally starting massive wild-fires because of the excitement about what kind of equipment might be between a babies legs. Of course, we are talking aboutGender-reveal parties: WHY oh WHY do we still do them? All you wanted to (and didn’t want to) know about the strange need to celebrate this.

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236 | Don't You D.A.R.E.

Drugs. The single greatest threat that humankind has ever faced… according to Nancy Reagan. Politicians and depots have known for a long time that fear can unite a people. In the 1980s, stoking fear about and going to “war” with drugs gave the sheeple a common enemy to fear and stoked good fear for their warrior politicians. One of the ill-begotten ideas sprung forth was the D.A.R.E. program. This program was specifically ideological and eschewed empirical evidence. As such, this programs hemorrhaged money for years until it was finally abandoned. Learn about about the rise and epic fall of the D.A.R.E. program and share your D.A.R.E. stories with us!

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230 | History of Halloween

Halloween season 2021! Shane and Abraham crack open the history books to learn about where the traditions and history of halloween come from. Amazingly, if you traveled back in time to witness this tradition, you might recognize many contemporary practices that are still around. Despite being hailed as demonic, Christians are largely responsible for bringing Halloween to modern culture, establishing many of the current traditions, and even coming up with the name. Also, we bust some myths and provide recommendations, like we do.

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221 | Impulsivity and the Marshmallow

What to Expect:

This episode will highlight early studies of Walter Mischel that examined “delay to gratification” effects under various circumstances, and several follow-up studies looking at longitudinal impact of the initial results. While early results suggested correlations in predictive value toward future academic and behavioral success, these may have been overgeneralized from a narrow sample population, and ignorant of more potent variables in a child’s environment.

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219 | ABA Pt. 9: Reflections

In this epilogue, Shane reveals his true experience with this miniseries as well as how he has changed because of it. Abraham reflects on the process and the gratitude we have toward our listeners.

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218 | ABA Pt. 8: The Finale

This is what we have been building toward. The most vitriolic insult hurled at behavior analysis is to compare it to gay conversion “therapy” (see past episode for a full-length discussion of this harmful practice). This is rooted in the idea that behavior analysts are just out to make autistic people indistinguishable for normative populations by changing who they are. We really get into the weeds of the nuances in unpacking this complicated issue.

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217 | ABA Pt. 7: Feelings

Behavior Analysts are accused of ignoring the feelings of the individuals whom they serve. This can be in the form of blocking self-soothing behaviors such as stereotypy, or simply pushing for working through emotional experiences. This is further evidenced by the fact that discussions of feelings are all but absent from professional literature from behavior analysts. Although seldom discussed, feelings are important to behavior analysts. In addition, behavior analysts are not experts in emotional mental health, so are most likely to refer to a specialist. We <3 emotions.

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216 | ABA Pt. 6: Dependency

Applied Behavior Analysts are sometimes accused of enforcing compliance to the point that an individual doe not have autonomy to make their own choices or learn to say no. We think everyone should be a little noncompliant now and then (as long as no one is getting hurt!). What do we have to say for ourselves?

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215 | ABA Pt. 5: Obedience

Applied Behavior Analysts are sometimes accused of enforcing compliance to the point that an individual doe not have autonomy to make their own choices or learn to say no. We think everyone should be a little noncompliant now and then (as long as no one is getting hurt!). What do we have to say for ourselves?

Listen in, and remember that you can reach us directly at 775.525.0908, at info@wwdwwdpodcast.com, through the comments below OR on social via @wwdwwdpodcast or #wwdwwdpodcast.

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214 | ABA Pt. 4: Applying It

This next discussion centers around the accusation that people who experience ABA services can come across as robotic, decontextualized, and uncaring about what they say and do. How do we overcome the awkward and perfunctory-sounding responses?

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213 | ABA Pt. 3: Little Robots

This next discussion centers around the accusation that people who experience ABA services can come across as robotic, decontextualized, and uncaring about what they say and do. How do we overcome the awkward and perfunctory-sounding responses?

Listen in, and remember that you can reach us directly at 775.525.0908, at info@wwdwwdpodcast.com, through the comments below OR on social via @wwdwwdpodcast or #wwdwwdpodcast.

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212 | ABA Pt. 2: A History of Punishment

The second installment in our discussion about the controversy around ABA as abusive by discussing a history of punishment. This is a shorter discussion but packed full of information. Two down…

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211 | Applied Behavior Analysis Part 1

Our best effort to diplomatically introduce the broiling controversy around ABA as abusive and accusations comparing ABA to conversion therapy. We prepare for what is going to be a several-week miniseries explaining and responding to vocal critiques of Behavior Analysis. We love you all, please don’t hurt us.

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210 | Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sex Work (But Were Too Afraid To Ask)

A lot of myth-busting and a little proselytization. We describe how people get started in sex work and the kinds of policies and practices that make it safe or extremely dangerous. Sex workers are people who need protection and support. The “righteous” policies that have tried to end or block sex work have only lead to the worst things that have ever happened to sex workers. There is a better way!

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199 | Teaching Prejudice

In 1968 following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Iowa teacher Jane Elliott developed a classroom exercise in the effects of prejudice by separating her third-grade class into two groups by eye color. Through a series of contrived narratives, the two groups became at odds with each other, exhibiting such volatile behavior reminiscent of racial tensions so common in the news. The effects of the exercise seemed to instill a sense of empathy among the students for what it felt like to be marginalized or oppressed. While it can only offer insight into what oppressed populations truly feel, it was a powerful exercise that was able to be modified for use with other populations including businesses, correctional facilities, and college campuses. Each iteration yielded the same lessons that decades later seem just as necessary, if not more.

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192 | The new ABA & OT Podcast

We invited the hosts of an exciting new podcast to share what they are doing with their podcast: The ABA & OT podcast. This new podcast is a collaboration between a Behavior Analyst and an Occupational Therapist who found common ground in Precision Teaching and helping children with disabilities. A real effort to bridge to estranged worlds in psychology and human service.

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180 | Possessed: Exorcisms

This Halloween season is well underway and we have this, and one episode left after this one. In this episode, we review the process of exorcisms. But much more importantly, exorcisms are dangerous and ethically questionable at best. We dive into why people believe them and the effect that they have had on the culture at large.

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178 | Afraid of the Dark

It’s time for spooky psychology month! We are kicking off our creepy topics with a discussion about what gives us the creeps about the darkness! Like many things, we have reasonable hypotheses but little firm evidence. Nevertheless, it is worth digging into what we think we know and why!

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159 | Masturbation: The Original DIY

WARNING! This episode contains discussions related to sexual behavior. Although we joke about this during our discussion to keep the mood light, this is a serious scientific and professional discussion about a psychologically important topic. If you are uncomfortable with hearing sexual content, or do not want children to hear it, then do not listen. We are not marking this as explicit content because of the scientific nature of this discussion.

That being said, this is a fascinating look at the history and culture around masturbation. Furthermore, we explore some of the myths about masturbation and recent scientific literature about it. We also touch out sexual behavior of individuals with intellectual disabilities, and what to expect from children.

Listen in, and remember that you can reach us directly at 775.525.0908, at info@wwdwwdpodcast.com, through the comments below OR on social via @wwdwwdpodcast or #wwdwwdpodcast.

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