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Dr. Ronnie Detrich
Name: Ronnie Detrich
Role / Credential: PhD
Special Learning’s Designation: World’s Leading Expert in ABA in Schools
Company Name: Detrich and Associates
Company URL: 
Ability to Contribute: Dr. Ronnie Detrich has been a student of ABA for over 50 years. As an ABA practitioner with over 50 years of direct hands-on clinical experience, his body of work and contribution to the field of ABA has 

resulted in transforming how ABA is perceived in schools — through demonstrating systems-level success. Ronnie Detrich has been providing behavior analytic services for over 50 years. His work can be characterized as thorough-going behavior analysis drawing from the conceptual, experimental, and applied branches of our discipline.

From 1970-1977, he worked at a pioneering Family Service Agency in Flint, Michigan, providing behavior analytic services for anyone requesting help. Later, he developed and was the director of a state-wide educational and residential program for school-aged children with autism in South Dakota. In the 1980s, Ronnie was the director of a residential program based on the Teaching Family Model for adjudicated juvenile offenders in West Virginia.

From 1986-2004, he was the clinical director for a large non-public school in the San Francisco Bay Area serving children with intellectual disabilities and serious behavior challenges. In addition, he also co-directed a public-school consultation project supporting students with academic and behavioral challenges.

From 2004-2018, Ronnie was a Senior Fellow at the Wing Institute, an education policy think tank that focuses on the implementation of evidence-based practices in public schools. Currently, he is the proprietor of Detrich and Associates, a consulting project based in Logan, Utah. He also holds an appointment as adjunct faculty at Utah State University.

CEU: ABA in Schools - Part 6: Q&A with Dr. Ronnie Detrich

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CEU Bundle: Mental Health & Soft Skills (5 parts)

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Being an RBT for me was extremely fun because where were you going to find a place where you can be completely silly without having to worry what people thought about you? This was the only job that made me feel like I could make a dramatic difference while being myself.

I also liked to be surrounded by people that had the same goals of wanting to help kids and the teamwork made the job much easier and more enjoyable.

Change and progress was the ultimate goal for our kiddos. The early intervention program was seriously only a miracle because I saw changes in the kiddos that from day one, you wouldn’t even recognize who they were.

Changes from being able to utter 3-4 words where they can only make a syllable from when they started, the behavior decreases in which kiddo that used to engage in 30-40 0 self-harm to only half, learning how to wait during games, table work where they use to swipe and drop to the floor if they had to.

My favorite was when the parents would tell us what amazing progress they were making at home. I used to tear up and felt for these parents so much because it was already difficult for them and now, they can trust and rely on ABA and the therapists knowing their goal was ours.

By Emma Rogers, BA, RBT

Mother Child
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