The New York State Senate

K662

Assembly Resolution No. 662

BY: M. of A. Peoples-Stokes

MEMORIALIZING Governor Kathy Hochul to proclaim
March 20, 2022, as Behavior Analysis Day in the
State of New York, in conjunction with the
observance of World Behavior Analysis Day

WHEREAS, The profession of behavior analysis is a natural science of
behavior that was first developed in the 1930s; and

WHEREAS, Behavior analytic researchers use the methods of the basic
science -- the experimental analysis of behavior -- to address questions
about how behavior works and how it changes; and

WHEREAS, Starting in the 1940s and 1950s, some behavioral scientists
showed that the principles and procedures discovered by early
researchers could be used to build useful skills in people with
developmental and psychiatric disorders; and

WHEREAS, Early applied behavior analysts implemented interventions
in schools, homes, and other everyday settings, emphasizing the use of
positive reinforcement to help individuals improve behaviors that were
important to them and to those with whom they interacted; and

WHEREAS, The discipline has grown substantially so that behavior
analysis is now a robust field with theoretical, experimental, and
applied branches and distinct research methods, scientific journals,
textbooks, scholarly and professional organizations, and university
training programs; and

WHEREAS, Thousands of studies published in scientific journals have
demonstrated the efficacy of many ABA procedures - singly and in various
combinations -- for building useful skills and reducing behaviors that
impede healthy, successful functioning in many clinical and non-clinical
populations; and

WHEREAS, The practice of ABA is a distinct profession with
well-established, widely recognized professional and paraprofessional
practitioner standards and credentials; and

WHEREAS, The State of New York first recognized and licensed the
profession of behavior analysis in 2014; and

WHEREAS, Worldwide celebrations will be held on and around March 20,
2022, to commemorate the profession of behavior analysis; now,
therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
memorialize Governor Kathy Hochul to proclaim March 20, 2022, as
Behavior Analysis Day in the State of New York; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be
transmitted to The Honorable Kathy Hochul, Governor of the State of New
York.