Two students awarded international grants for behavior analysis study

When University of Houston-Clear Lake Associate Professor of Behavior Analysis Sarah Lechago heard not one, but two of her mentees’ names called as winners of coveted grants awarded by the prestigious Society for the Advancement for Behavior Analysis, it was a wonderful and memorable moment.

“When I realized my mentees in UHCL’s Behavior Analysis Program, Stephanie Smothermon and Fernanda Oda, had both been announced as winners, I was very proud; but more than anything I was so happy that they received the recognition they so richly deserve,” said Lechago.

Smothermon, who received her master of arts in behavior analysis from UHCL in May 2017, won the SABA 2016 Innovative Student Thesis Grant in the amount of $1,000 for her research project titled, “Teaching Children with Autism to Talk about Private Events.”

“My primary purpose is to use this funding to purchase materials I need to execute my research study,” Smothermon said. “Because I found a gap in research on this topic, I chose to focus my project on finding ways to enable non-verbal, autistic children to recognize private, internal events such as hunger, thirst and boredom, and be able to communicate them.  I need to be able to individualize activities for non-verbal autistic children so I can help them communicate their needs, and the grant funds will allow me to do that.”

Lechago explained that Oda came to the Behavior Analysis program as an intellectually curious student with a firm dedication to science. “Fernanda possesses a strong conceptual and basic research background, and less experience in applied work,” Lechago said. “However, she has demonstrated such a talent for applied work along with great organizational skills, and she has earned the respect of her peers.”

Lechago said she promoted Oda in her clinic from therapist assistant, to both a full therapist and therapist assistant supervisor. “That is a rare and strong endorsement of her skills,” Lechago said. “I was extremely happy for Fernanda when I learned she received this most prestigious SABA award. After all, she won it for a project she had been conducting independently.”

Oda, who is in her second year working toward her Master of Arts in Behavior Analysis, was also awarded $1,000 for the SABA 2017 International Development Grant. Since 2015, she has been developing a project she calls, “The Fountain and the Bridge.”

“I am an international student from Brazil, and I gave my project this name because it’s my goal to build a bridge of communication about behavior analysis between the United States and Brazil,” Oda said.

“I view the United States as the origin, or the ‘fountain,’ of behavior analysis. In Brazil, it’s often difficult to get the textbooks or other materials that universities need for studies,” she said. “In the U.S., we have easier access to scientific knowledge and better access to what we need to further our studies, but in Brazil, there’s a lack of investment in resources and research.”

Oda said that the best way to develop the field of behavior analysis internationally is to provide access to information about research and practices and also provide access to textbooks, thereby creating a bridge of information between the U.S. to Brazil. “This is my objective, and it’s how I plan to use these funds,” she said.

Lechago said that SABA is a nonprofit organization that grants funding for continuing research in behavior analysis and is composed of a council of the field’s top researchers. “Its purpose is to support and fund a variety of research and dissemination efforts, including the grants my students have been awarded. These grants are highly competitive and very prestigious,” she said.

Lechago, Smothermon, and Oda were present in Denver at the SABA annual international conference and awards ceremony in late May.

Both Smothermon and Oda agree that they couldn’t have won their respective grants without the help and support of their mentor, Lechago.

“When Stephanie proposed the winning study, I was excited by the idea but I warned her that it would be a high-risk study. Stephanie was so inspired by the research topic, she didn’t hesitate to commit to conducting the study.”

Lechago said she’d encouraged Smothermon to apply for the SABA award. “When she reported that she won, I was not surprised but I was extremely excited for her.”

“This is such a meaningful award in our field,” Smothermon said. “I couldn’t have felt brave enough to do this without her. She’s not afraid to take a risk. A lot of researchers prefer to go with a safe bet, but my topic isn’t necessarily safe. She’s been encouraging me to be brave in my research.”

“Dr. Lechago is a determined and generous mentor and an outstanding researcher in our field,” Oda said. “She creates excellent learning and research opportunities for her students, and she puts a lot of effort into making sure her mentees do very well.”

To find out more about UHCL’s Behavior Analysis program, email behavioranalysis@uhcl.edu, call 281-283-3300 or visit www.uhcl.edu/human-sciences-humanities/departments/clinical-health-applied-sciences/behavior-analysis. 

Also published on Medium.