Erika Byers
Erika Byers
Bio:
Erika began her career working with adults with intellectual disabilities when she was enrolled in undergraduate studies at Hampton University in Hampton Virginia. She worked as a direct care worker and worked 1:1 with adults in a residential placement. During the two years in this role, Erika knew there had to be more she could do to serve these individuals. She met with a behavior analyst who guided Erika to pursue a career in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). In the fall of 2010, she enrolled in the master’s degree program in ABA at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City.
During her matriculation, she worked in Early Intervention and Preschool classrooms as both teacher assistant and head classroom teacher. She worked with children ranging from pre-listener/pre-speaker to reader/writer levels of verbal behavior. She implemented various tactics from the science to induce the first instances of speech, as well as improve the existing communication repertoires of her students. After a successful two years in the master’s program, Erika enrolled in the doctoral program, with the goal to add to the existing research on ABA, learning, communication and verbal behavior development.
While working on her doctoral degree, Erika mentored master’s students at Columbia University, taught in the classroom, supervised special education and general education classrooms and worked in home program settings as both a 1:1 ABA provider, as well as a supervisor. In her tenure, Erika has worked with toddlers, pre-school and school-aged children, adolescents, and adults across all levels of verbal behavior and functionality. She brings expertise, rigor, and a client-centered research focus to Teamwork’s clinical model. Erika is a Licensed Behavior Analyst in New York State and also holds four NYS teacher certifications (Birth-Grade 2, Grade 1-6 for General Education and Students with Disabilities).
Abstract:
Chapter 9: COMPASSION
The Role of Compassion in Social Justice Efforts
This chapter examines the role of compassion in social justice efforts from a behavior analytic perspective. Social justice efforts rely on perspective-taking skills and empathy as motivating operations for compassionate action on behalf of those who are suffering injustice. As a community of behavior analysts, our championing of social justice efforts are fully in line with the words of Coretta Scott King who said, “The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate action of its members.”
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