Behind the Mic: Doug Kostewicz on his hit podcast
‘ABA on Call’ recently surpassed 250,000 downloads
Associate Professor Doug Kostewicz has spent nearly a decade co-hosting ABA on Call, a monthly podcast that brings scholarly discussion of behavior analysis to practitioners, students, and parents. With the show recently surpassing 250,000 downloads, we caught up with Kostewicz to talk about how the podcast started, who’s listening, and how he got his start in applied behavior analysis.
How did you come up with the podcast’s name, and what made you want to start it?
“My colleague from Penn State, Rick Kubina, and I used to do a podcast called The PT (Precision Teaching) Podcast back in the early 2010s. We did that for a few years, and with some changes, we started a new podcast called ABA On Call, which stands for Applied Behavior Analysis On Call. I don’t know exactly why we landed on that name; it just seemed to work. We wanted to bring a scholarly discussion, keep it short — about 30 to 35 minutes, once a month — and serve BCBAs (board-certified behavior analysts). We come up with questions, review articles, talk about topics, and interview a variety of professionals.”
Who would you say your audience is?
“We just found out we’re over 250,000 downloads, which is pretty awesome. I think it’s expanding. Originally it was practicing behavior analysts—people who are board-certified. Over time, it expanded to other certified folks, like RBTs (registered behavior technicians). We’re also hearing from parents and students in behavior-analytic programs. As more people discover it, that’s helping spread the word.”
How would you describe applied behavior analysis to those unfamiliar with it?
“Applied behavior analysis is the application of behavior analysis to help people. Most psychology looks internally and then outward: the mind dictates behavior. Behavior analysis looks at the role of the environment that shapes behavior. We look at the contingencies, such as: what are the situations that set the stage for you to do something, and what are the consequences that follow? Many think that consequences are “negative,” but they are simply what follows behavior in time and affects the likelihood of you doing it again. A very simple example may involve how to get a cookie. Ask nicely for a cookie, and receive it; you may ask nicely again. Yell for a cookie; you might not get one, and may try something else to get the cookie. However, if yelling gets the cookie and asking nicely does not, you may start yelling for cookies very often!”
What’s your own origin story? What got you interested in this field?
“In undergrad, I was a psychology major, and my sophomore year I took a class called Psych of Learning — what people in the field call ‘rat lab.’ You work with rats in Skinner boxes, and you shape their behavior. You start by getting them to press a lever, then chain behaviors together. I didn’t tell the rat what to do; I shaped its behavior through consequences, and it illustrated all these basic processes of behavior analysis. Once I saw that, I was hooked. But I didn’t want to work with animals. I wanted to make lives better for children and adults, so I moved into the applied side for my master’s, which is in special education and applied behavior analysis.”
What’s it been like watching the podcast grow to more than 250,000 downloads?
“I do not have a social media footprint, so I asked my co-host, Rick Kubina, ‘How’s the response out there?’ because he does more with the social media side. He tells me it gets great reviews. I know we are very proud of the podcast, and I am surprised in a positive way when I hear these updates. I thought we were at 100,000 downloads, and he said, ‘That was last year — we’re at over 250,000 now.’ I am proud that we are reaching so many individuals, and I hope that what we say has a meaningful impact in the lives of others.”
