Night Shift Autism caught up with Dr. Kristen Byra, BCBA-D and founder of UpskillABA, to talk about how parents can partner with their child’s BCBA to maximize treatment outcomes through purposeful questioning and data review.
Dr. Kristen Byra is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst at a doctoral level (BCBA-D) and a licensed behavior analyst in Arizona and Texas. She completed her master’s degree in psychology from Western Michigan University in May 2007, specializing in autism and organizational behavior management. By May 2010, she received her Ph.D. in Psychology from the same university, specializing in Behavior Analysis. Her thesis and dissertation centered around the evaluation of prompting strategies for children with autism and related disorders, focusing specifically on matching to sample and receptive identification skills.
Following her graduation, Dr. Byra concentrated her professional efforts on delivering center-based and home-based services for children diagnosed with autism and related disorders. She also provided consultation services for several school districts in Arizona and Nevada. Since 2017, Dr. Byra has been creating Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) and Clinical Intelligence Forms (CIF) for various prominent insurance companies and provider agencies. She has contributed as an expert witness in several court cases and has functioned as an ad-hoc reviewer for the Behavior Analysis in Practice journal. Her ongoing dedication is to the dissemination of information and research concerning the best practices in behavior analysis. She accomplishes this through web-based learning platforms and consultation. Most recently she has been appointed by the Governor of Arizona to be a committee member on the Committee for Behavior Analysts.
Do you have resources that would help parents and families seeking ABA services? Connect with us and share! Want to chat with Night Shift Autism on resources or a current field topic? Contact us and check out our blog and professional and family POV articles!