What Learning Looked Like at Do Better in 2025
When I look back at learning at Do Better in 2025, what stands out is how intentionally it was designed.
Learning this year focused on supporting behavior analysts and related professionals in the realities of their work. Across webinars, workshops, mentorship spaces, and community events, the emphasis stayed consistent: ethical decision-making, practitioner skill development, systems awareness, and practical application in real settings.
The goal was to create learning spaces that supported thoughtful practice and helped people leave with ideas, frameworks, and questions they could carry back into their work.
A Consistent Learning Rhythm
Throughout the year, Do Better hosted a monthly webinar series that provided steady access to professional learning. Topics reflected the breadth of issues practitioners are navigating across settings and roles.
Webinars addressed areas such as:
- executive functioning and goal development
- supervision, staff support, and retention
- instructional design and constructional approaches
- dissemination and ethics in behavior analysis
- integrating frameworks like Montessori, ACT, and OBM into practice
- organizational change and practitioner-led systems shifts
Rather than centering a single content theme, the series was intentionally broad. It created space for different voices, areas of expertise, and applications of behavior analysis, while remaining grounded in real-world constraints and practitioner experience.
Over time, the monthly series offered a reliable rhythm of learning that practitioners could return to throughout the year.
Extended Learning Experiences
Some topics benefit from more time and depth than a single webinar allows.
In 2025, Do Better offered several extended learning experiences, including Neuroscience Meets ABA, Prompting with ABA: The D.A.N.C.E.™ Method, and Kind Extinction. These trainings supported practitioners in examining how assessment, intervention, ethics, and professional judgment intersect in complex clinical situations.
Participants explored topics such as:
- integrating behavioral neuroscience into assessment and programming
- using AI as a collaborative tool without replacing professional expertise
- approaching extinction with greater attention to social validity, practitioner experience, and ethical implementation
These experiences emphasized application and reflection, allowing practitioners to work through examples, case material, and decision-making processes in more depth.
Supporting Access to Learning
Access to learning was an intentional focus throughout the year.
The Playful RBT training was created as a free, extended learning opportunity for Registered Behavior Technicians. The training focused on building playfulness, connection, and engagement in everyday sessions, using video examples and practical strategies that could be applied immediately.
RBTs are central to service delivery and are often expected to implement complex programming with limited opportunities for role-specific learning. This training was designed to offer support that felt relevant, practical, and grounded in the realities of their work.
Learning Through Conversation and Mentorship
A significant portion of learning in 2025 took place through live discussion and mentorship spaces.
Members met regularly to talk through clinical cases, supervision challenges, ethical questions, and systems-level issues. These conversations often shaped the development of new tools and guides, many of which were created directly in response to what members were navigating in their practice.
Trail Guides mentorship focused on behavior analysts working in school settings. Discussions centered on IEPs, FBAs, inclusion, and navigating school-based systems, while maintaining a focus on neurodiversity-affirming and neuroscience-informed practice.
These spaces supported shared problem-solving and professional connection, with topics driven by member needs rather than predetermined agendas.
Learning in Community
In February, we gathered in person for the Couch to Camp Retreat in Florida. The retreat centered connection, regulation, and reflection, offering time to slow down and engage with learning in a shared, in-person environment.
Later in the year, Do Better hosted the Rejected Conference. This practitioner-focused conference featured presentations and workshops highlighting the work practitioners are doing in their own settings. The emphasis was on applied practice, innovation, and sharing real-world examples rather than polished or performative content.
The conference created space for practitioners to learn from one another and see their work reflected and valued.
Why This Matters
Behavior analysis and autism services continue to evolve, and many practitioners are actively navigating how to apply their skills in ethical, flexible, and context-responsive ways.
Learning at Do Better in 2025 focused on supporting that process through consistent education, extended training, mentorship, and practitioner-led learning spaces.
As we move into 2026, this approach continues to guide our work, with an ongoing focus on collaboration, thoughtful practice, and building resources that support meaningful application in real-world settings.
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