Kristi Morin, PhD, BCBA-D

I am a professor and researcher by day at a doctoral granting university. My position has afforded me the opportunity to work with some wonderful students who have taught me a lot about the most effective ways to teach adult learners. 

An additional benefit of my position is that it allows me to keep up with the latest developments and research in applied behavior analysis. As the Verified Course Sequence (VCS) Coordinator and an instructor in our Behavior Analysis program, I have a deep understanding of the knowledge and skills students need to pass the BCBA® exam.  

I started my career working in a high-needs school in Louisiana as a first grade teacher. Although I taught general education, I had a number of students with disabilities in my class.  

I have always enjoyed individualizing my instruction and working with smaller groups of students so moving into special education was a natural next step for me. Although I enjoy teaching all students, my heart is with students with disabilities.  

I first learned about applied behavior analysis when I was in my Master’s of Education program. At the time, I was teaching special education on an emergency permit while I took online classes to earn my M.Ed. and special education certification. One of the classes I took was in behavior management and my professor used the textbook Applied Behavior Analysis for Teachers by Alberto and Troutman. This was the first time I had ever heard of ABA, and the experience was quite literally life-changing.  

My first year teaching special education was tough. Many of my students engaged in significant interfering behaviors and nothing in my general education program prepared me to manage them. When I started learning about ABA, it was like a light went off. I started applying the principles of ABA in my classroom and it worked! My students began engaging in more productive behaviors, and I was able to focus more of my time on teaching.    

In the Alberto and Troutman textbook, the authors explain what a BCBA® does and the process for becoming one. I was intrigued and began searching for doctoral programs with BCBA® programs. I accepted a fellowship at Texas A&M University where I earned my BCBA® certification while working as a behavior therapist in the university autism clinic. Since then, I have devoted over 10 years to teaching others about ABA and helping people earn their BCBA® certification.

I have been fortunate to have had worked with, and learned from, some very influential leaders in the field. During my doctoral program, I was closely mentored in autism, applied behavior analysis, and single-case research by Drs. Jay Ganz and Kimber Vannest. Their hands-on teaching approach led to a deep understanding of research and practice and resulted in numerous peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.  

After graduating from my doctoral program, I completed a two-year Institute of Education Sciences (IES) Postdoctoral Fellowship at Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) at UNC-Chapel Hill under the mentorship of Drs. Sam Odom, Kara Hume, and Brian Boyd. While there, I worked on several high-impact projects, including the National Professional Development Center on ASD’s updated review of evidence-based practices (EBPs) for individuals with autism, which has over 2,000 downloads and 500 citations, and the Autism Focused Intervention Resources and Modules (AFIRM), online modules used by school-based professionals across the world to learn how to implement EBPs for students with autism. I also served as the President of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) North Carolina Division for Autism and Developmental Disabilities (NC DADD) and received a Distinguished Leadership Award for my service. 

As a tenure-track professor, I won a competitive IES Early Career grant to develop an induction program for new teachers of students with autism working in high-needs settings and continued to publish and present on autism and EBPs. To date, I have over 60 national and international presentations and 30 peer-reviewed publications that are published in prominent journals, such as Exceptional Children, Journal of Special Education, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, and Augmentative and Alternative Communication, among others. I also serve on the editorial boards of Remedial and Special Education, Teacher Education and Special Education, and Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities. 

Each of these experiences has prepared me to found ABA Exam Prep Reimagined. Throughout my career, I have focused on learning and disseminating information about EBPs for individuals with autism, nearly all of which are rooted in principles of applied behavior analysis. Working with teachers and students has taught me how to communicate information about ABA in non-technical language that is understandable by people who are both experienced and new to the field. Further, in my role as a post-doctoral scholar and professor, I have learned best practices for teaching adult learners in an online setting. ABA Exam Prep Reimagined is the result of over a decade of experience in applied behavior analysis and higher education instruction.

As a previous classroom teacher, I have always loved creating engaging learning materials for my students, especially ones that are technology-based. I was one of the first teachers in my district to have a SMART board in my classroom, and I spent countless hours creating interactive flipcharts, videos, and learning modules for my students.  

However, as I moved into higher education my focus shifted to research and I no longer had time to engage my creative side. At least, not until I won an IES Early Career development grant. The title of the grant is Project STAY (Supporting Teachers of Autism in Years 1-3), and the goal is to promote retention of new teachers of students with autism by developing a supportive induction program. A central component of this program is online learning modules designed to teach mentors effective mentoring practices.  

After a decade away from the classroom, I am finally able to do what I love again – create engaging learning materials. As I began working on the learning modules for Project STAY, I quickly realized that there was a huge need in the field for similar modules designed to teach ABA concepts and principles. So, I generalized my knowledge of module development, and ABA Exam Prep Reimagined was born.

As I began talking to people who were preparing to take the BCBA® exam and examining existing training materials, I realized that nearly all of the available options relied heavily on recorded videos to teach concepts with few opportunities for individualized practice and feedback. What we know from cognitive science is that people learn best when new information is meaningful and when individuals are able to take an active role in their learning. 

You can expect to complete modules that are packed full of engaging visuals and videos to illustrate points being taught. In addition, all modules are optimized for screen readers and include narration, closed captions, and high contrast colors that conform to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Level AA or higher.